Veiled Threat
by gredandforgerock
Summary: At the end of Harry's fifth year Sirius fell through the death veil. Harry followed. Now what are they going to do?
1. Chapter 1

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled as he moved to where his Godfather had fallen through the veil.

Remus reached out to grab him and stop him from following Sirius through but Harry slipped through his fingers and disappeared through the doorway into the unknown. Everyone in the room froze for a minute.

"I killed Sirius Black." Belletrix cackled, "And bitty baby potty too."

"Nooooo." all five of his friends screamed and pointed their wands at the woman who was then blasted back into the wall. Blood smeared the wall as she slid down. She was not breathing any longer when the crumbled heap stopped sliding.

Next all five wands turned towards Lucius and the same thing happened time and time again until there were no other death eaters remaining. The last person to have the wands pointed at him was Remus Lupin but the horror on his face as he stood stock still and stared at the veil woke them up from their rage. They ran towards each other and met in a five way hug screaming their rage about the death of their friend.

"Run." the thought hit all five minds at the same time and they turned as one and fled the room. They ran back through the brain room and then to the room of doors.

"I need the exit." Hermione yelled as the door they came through closed.

The room spun and then a door opened and they all tumbled through it. They ran into the lift, hit the button for the atrium and watched Dumbledore running towards them too late to stop the doors from closing. Once they were in the atrium Ron pulled off his shirt and held it out for the others.

Each of them grabbed hold and Luna pointed her wand and yelled, "Portus."

Albus arrived just in time to see them vanish in a swirl of color. He thought to follow them but the arrival of Voldemort stopped him. An instant later the five friends were slammed into the floor of a house; all of them collapsed and didn't wake for several hours.

Ron was the first to wake up because he was cold. He pulled his shirt on first and then looked around. The other four were close by but still unconscious and they were all in a room with covered furniture. Ron decided being awake alone was probably not a good idea so he tried to wake Hermione.

"Five more minutes." she grumbled.

"Sorry Mione." Ron shook her again, "I think we're in a tight spot and you're the best to figure it out."

"I'm awake." she sat up quickly but then held her hand to her head, "Where are we?"

"I don't know, Luna made the portkey." he scratched his head.

"Well let's wake the others. Maybe she knows where she brought us." The two of them woke the other three and they began to discuss just what had brought them to this spot.

Ginny was the first to start, "Harry's dead."

"I know Gin but we need to figure out where we are and what happened after he died." Ron pulled his sister into a hug.

"We killed the death eaters." Neville took a deep breath, "My parents have been avenged, Belletrix and both Lestrange brothers are dead."

"Malfoy, Jugson, Crabbe, Dolohov, Macnair, Avery, Rookwood and Mulciber." Ron added, "Nott was injured in the Hall of Prophecy's but he's probably still alive."

"Did you guys hear Harry tell us to run?" Hermione asked her face a mask of concern.

"Yeah." they all replied.

"But that's the death veil." she shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself, "He's dead isn't he?"

"No one really understands the veil." Luna stated in her normal airy fashion, "Daddy thinks it's a doorway to another dimension or possibly New York in America."

"Harry told me to take my shirt off in the atrium." Ron looked sheepish, "Didn't understand why at the time."

"He told me where to send us." Luna smiled, "But he didn't say where it was just that we'd find his family's place."

"But Harry doesn't know any place his family may have owned except Godric's Hollow." Hermione leaned her head tiredly on Ron's shoulder.

His stomach growled and Neville said, "Let's see if there is any food in this place. We'll all concentrate better with food in our stomachs."

They struggled to their feet and began to look around the house they found themselves in. None of them mentioned splitting up and all of them had their wands at the ready. They crept through the halls and looked into doors until they found one with a roaring fire. Silently they decided if anyone was in the house this is where they were most likely to be, entering the room they looked around carefully. They could find no one so when a voice spoke they all jumped and turned their wands towards it.

"Hello."

"A portrait." Ginny sighed in relief.

"Well not just any portrait." the man stated, "It's a painting of me so it's very important."

"Of course Sir." Hermione rolled her eyes at Ginny's giggle then addressed the portrait again, "If you don't mind would you tell us who you are?"

"Well how rude." it turned away, "In my day it was polite to introduce one's self before asking such questions."

"My apologies my good sir." Neville did a little bow in front of the portrait and smiled congenially, "My name is Neville Longbottom of the Westmoreland Longbottoms. We have come to your lovely home quite on accident and we were wondering if you would be so good as to tell us who you are and where we are."

"Good show." the man grinned, "Now that's how it's done. Who is next?"

"I am." Luna curtsied, "Luna Lovegood of the Quibbler."

"I'm not familiar with that family where do you reside?" he asked.

"Near Ottery St. Catchpole." she added.

"Still don't know that one." he said, "Oh well on to the next."

"Ronald Weasley and my sister Ginevra." Ron spoke and indicated Ginny, "We're from Ottery St. Catchpole too."

"I'm thinking this place must either be new or renamed." the man stated, "Alright lass you want to give it another go?"

"My name is Hermione Granger of London." she stated, "Can you please tell us who you are now?"

"Yes quite right." the man grinned, "I am Jameson Potter of the Wales Potters."

"Jameson we are the only Potters." a woman's voice had them turning to find the next portrait, "No need to introduce yourselves again I heard you the first time. I am Athena Potter his poor wife. Can you imagine being stuck with that all day?" she indicated her husband's portrait.

"Hush dear you know you love me." he crooned at her.

"Are we in Wales?" Hermione asked interrupting their conversation.

"Yes dear." she peered down at them but not in a condescending way, "A long way from Hogwarts, I assume you are students?"

"Yes Madam Potter." Neville stated, "Ron, Hermione and I are fifth years while Ginny and Luna are in their fourth. Our friend Harry is probably a relative of yours he sent us."

"Splendid, simply splendid." Jameson clapped from his portrait, "I don't know Harry but we've been expecting my Great Grandson and his lovely bride."

"Who?" Ginny asked confused.

"James, he's named after me you know." Jameson smiled widely, "I can't remember his wife's name."

"Lily." Ginny supplied, "I'm sorry Sir but they were both killed about fourteen years ago. Harry is their son."

"Well then where is this Harry?" Jameson asked.

"Harry sent us." Luna explained, "But he ran through the death veil first so now we're here."

"A death veil?" Jameson gasped as Athena began to cry, "What do you mean he ran through a veil?"

"It's a long story." Ron stated, "Would you mind if we found something to eat first?"

"Oh how rude of me." Athena dabbed her eyes, "Tabitha."

"Yes Mistress." a small elf appeared, "Would you like us to provide dinner for your guests here or in the dining room."

"Here please, we need to hear their story." she instructed.

"Yes Mistress." the elf was only gone a few moments. When she returned she was not alone and three elves sat food and drinks on the tables and began to distribute plates.

"Lovely job everyone, thank you so much." Athena smiled down on the elves, "You've been alone for so long and now you have someone to take care of."

"Yes Mistress." Tabitha smiled at the praise, "Is there anything else you wish?"

"No, you all need your rest now. I think we may have these visitors for quite some time." she smiled.

"Thanks a lot." Ron said as he dove onto his food, "This is better than Hogwarts."

His sentiments were repeated all around and the smiling elves popped away. Hermione was a little offended by the elves but the Potters treated them so well she was hard pressed to be really upset.

"Are you alright dear?" Athena addressed her, "You're not eating."

"Can you answer some questions about House Elves for me?" she didn't want to offend their hosts.

"What questions?" Athena asked.

"I don't agree with slavery." Hermione said, "I don't understand why they don't want to be free."

"Didn't you pay any attention in History of Magic?" Athena asked, "You did say fifth year. You should have learned about them in first year."

"Our history class only talks about the Goblin wars." Ginny offered, "I've not learned anything about elves other than what my parents have told me. They only say they like to take care of witches and wizards."

"Goblin wars?" Athena looked perplexed then turned towards her husband with a glare, "I thought Binns was canned."

"I don't know about that." Jameson shrugged, "I was commissioned before the review panel completed their work."

"He wasn't canned he died." Ron shrugged, "He just doesn't know it yet."

"James must be their Great Grandson by many times. Binns died in the seventeen hundreds." Hermione whispered to the others as the portraits continued to talk.

"A ghost teaching history." Jameson said thoughtfully, "Well he was terrible when he was alive, did he get any better?"

"Most people consider it nap time." Neville answered between bites, "I try to stay awake but it's really difficult."

"I can't believe the Board is allowing this to go on." Athena grumbled, "Jameson you should have straightened them out before you died. Who is on the board now?"

"I'm not sure." Hermione answered, "I know Lucius Malfoy was but they don't have them listed anywhere that I can find."

"Lucius Malfoy." Jameson looked perplexed, "I've never heard of the name."

"Really?" Ron snickered, "They take such pride in saying how they've been purebloods for centuries."

"Oh, I remember them." Athena giggled, "Are they tow-headed?"

"What?" Ron asked dumbfounded.

"A tow-head is someone with white blond hair. Tow in this sense is from the German word meaning flax." Hermione explained quickly, "Yes they are."

"Them, my word our world has gone to the pigs." Jameson exclaimed.

"Do you mean gone to the dogs?" Ginny asked.

"No I meant pigs." Jameson smiled, "They are French immigrants. New money made from pig farming and probably a bit of thievery."

"Jameson you do not know that for sure." Athena scolded.

"I can believe it." Neville chuckled, "They try to make people think they are better than everyone else. But they practice dark arts in a terrorist group called death eaters."

"I think I remember James talking about a group like that." Jameson scratched his chin, "Had a leader named Moldysnort, Soldymort or Voldesnot something like that anyway."

The five teens were laughing at the man butchering the name of the bad guy. Luna was the first to control herself and comment, "I think Moldysnort is what we should call him from now on."

"Yeah, no reason to show him any respect what so ever." Ginny giggled.

"Now that you're finished eating would you tell us about this Harry that sent you?" Athena's question calmed them down immediately.

"Harry is the son of James and Lily Potter, the last of the Potters." Hermione started the story.

Each of the teens added bits and pieces of Harry's life to the story. Funny things, sad things and even the dangerous things were spoken of during this time. When they finally reached the end everyone was crying again. They were holding each other and trying to share comfort. Even Athena and Jameson had moved into one portrait to comfort one another.

"Such a brave, brave boy." Athena sniffed at the end, "A true Potter in every sense."

"This veil is a portal to where then?" Jameson asked.

"Death." Luna sighed, "You walk through but can't come back."

"Where is it?" he asked.

"In the Department of Mysteries in the ministry." Ron supplied.

"With the Unspeakables." Jameson nodded, "Athena dear do you have any idea where Rupert is?"

"His portrait?" she suggested sarcastically.

"Oh, yes good idea." Jameson jumped up from the couch he was sharing with Athena and swept out of the picture.

"Don't mind him." she waved the others off as he went walking off through the pictures on the wall, "He'll drag Rupert back and he'll tell us how the veil really works and then we can retrieve Harry."

"Really?' the group exclaimed together.

"Thank goodness." Hermione sighed and slumped in her seat.

"Tabitha?" Athena called and the elf popped up, "I forgot to ask you to prepare rooms for our guests."

"We already did that." Tabitha assured her, "When they are ready just call and we'll show them to their rooms."

"Lovely thank you so much." Athena smiled.

"May I ask you again about the elves?" Hermione asked, "We kind of got off subject."

"Yes right, many years ago, I don't know exactly how many, a wizard was walking through a dark forest." she spun her tail, "As he walked he kept his wand at the ready because it was known as a dangerous place. He was near the middle of the forest when he heard a woman scream. Moving as quietly as he could he ran toward the noise. When he arrived he found three small elves, sporting knifes, trying to kill a unicorn. What he had assumed was a woman's screams were actually that of a female unicorn."

"That's so sad." Luna sniffed.

"It is." Athena agreed, "The wizard stunned the three elves and let the unicorn go. He then woke up the elves and chastised them for trying to kill a creature so pure. They tried to kill the wizard then but he froze them and asked them why such peaceable creatures, as the elves were known to be, could commit such crimes. The elves cried and told him of demons who had captured all their kind. They would only release them if the three of them brought back the blood of a unicorn that they had killed."

"Demons?" Hermione shuddered.

"The unicorn had not left but had only hidden nearby." she explained, "So when they had finished their tale she returned to them and said, I will give you some of my blood. I cannot offer enough to give you all they expect but I can have many unicorns give a little. If this wizard will cut us and heal us we will give it. The wizard agreed to help and released the elves that had jars to hold all the blood they were expected to get."

"Oh, the demons aren't going to get what they expected." Ginny smiled knowing the bad guys would lose.

"Very true are you sure you haven't heard this?" they all shook their heads and she continued, "The unicorns came and donated blood. The wizard spent hours cutting and healing the unicorns so they wouldn't be weakened by taking too much from each one. When they were finished the wizard decided to follow the elves to make sure the demons kept their part of the bargain. What he found was not demons but humans in dark cloaks. They had all the elves in magical chains so they could not leave. There were around fifty men and women surrounding the group of elves."

"That was a surprise." Neville blinked, "I wonder why the elves called them demons."

"That is just what the wizard thought until they pulled off the hoods." she stated, "They were humans but they had all done some kind of horrible dark magic. They were deformed by the magic and were near death. By drinking the unicorn blood they could live but their existence would cursed."

"They'd have only a half-life." Hermione gasped.

"That's right." Athena nodded, "But here is the rub. Instead of killing the unicorn like they were told they got donated blood. The act of murdering the unicorn was part of the blood magic they wanted to do. Since it was donated blood it corrupted their dark ritual. Each of the people who participated in the ritual lost their soul and was transformed into the demons that the elves had named them. They were cursed to walk the earth forever trying to find a replacement soul. However every soul they take only leaves them wanting more. They tried to take the souls of the elves but the chains had fallen away during the transformation and the elves were able to chase them off with their positive spirits."

"Dementors!" Neville gasped, "They became the dementors."

"And the elves created the first patronus." Hermione realized.

"To thank the wizard for saving them they bonded to him and promised to serve him and his family forever." Athena finished.

"Well wait." Hermione stopped her, "I think that's a high price to pay for just saving their lives."

"He did not just save their lives." she corrected, "He saved their souls and the souls of all future elves. If they would have murdered that unicorn their race would have become even more hideous than the dementors. You cannot kill a unicorn without paying a very high price. You can't even harm them without a price. The wizard volunteered to pay that price. Even if the unicorn volunteered to be cut it was still an injury. The wizard paid with his magic. He became the first squib. Every time a squib is born it is payment for saving the elves. Wizards have perverted the bond we share and have disposed of squibs when they could. But the elves will never forget. They may wish to escape their cruel master but they will not be truly happy without a bonded person or family."

"Can you come teach History of magic?" Luna asked, "This is something wizards and witches should never forget lest they be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past."

"Wait, are you teasing us or is this really how it happened?" Ron asked, "This sounds like a story book."

"It is the truth." she answered, "Sometimes the truth is scarier than a pretend story."

"There are more than fifty dementors now." Ron stated, "Do they have dementor babies or did more wizards drink unicorn blood?"

"Not babies per say." Athena grimaced, "They merge and duplicate. Two will come together and if they can stay that way for a specific amount of time then four will emerge from the mist. It is possible that others duplicated the spell and blood combination but I doubt that happened."

"Found him." Jameson called from the door, "But he's at the ministry right now offering advice on a break-in his old department is cleaning up from. I didn't tell him we have the culprits here. We can give him the whole story in the morning. Tabitha is waiting out there in the hall to take you to your rooms."

They bid goodnight to their host portraits and followed the elf up the stairs to find two bedrooms with three beds in one and two in the other. They split and went to their rooms believing they would never get to sleep. But they did fall asleep just as soon as their heads hit their pillows. It had been a very long and exhausting day.


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you for coming." Albus address the order members that had arrived for the meeting, "I… I have… some… very bad news."

Everyone knew there had been a disturbance at the ministry that evening but only those few who had gone knew what was coming. Arthur knew and he held onto his wife's hand tightly.

"Six students were tricked by Voldemort into leaving the school." he took a deep breath, "They believed that Sirius was being held captive at the ministry by Voldemort. Why they didn't seek help from a teacher first is anyone's guess."

"Who went?" Molly asked even though she was already sure of whom at least part of them were.

"Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Grainger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood." He stopped unable to continue for a moment.

"How many were hurt?" she was already crying silent tears.

"Sirius was part of the rescue team and Bellatrix killed him. Actually that's not quite true." Albus sighed, "They were in the Death chamber and the spell she hit him with forced him through the veil."

Remus sobbed and everyone looked at him with great sorrow. However Albus regained their attention quickly.

"Harry was beside him when it happened. He followed." Albus whispered but everyone heard.

"What?" Molly was sure she misunderstood, "Followed where?"

"Through the veil." Albus put his head in his hands, "Harry is dead."

"What of the others?" Filius asked when no one else could.

"I remember several of them were quite injured." Tonks looked slightly confused, "Neville had a broken nose and Ginny broke her ankle. However when Harry… they all screamed and then turned on each death eater in the room. They all used very powerful stunners. All five hit one person at a time and it threw that person against the wall. Every single one of the death eaters died of a snapped neck. Then they moved together into a group hug and cried about his death and… glowed. Then they just stopped and ran out the door. Ginny didn't look like she was having any trouble with her ankle."

"Where did they go? Are they all right?" Molly asked her husband who only shrugged.

"I followed them. They beat me to the atrium and when I arrived they left on a portkey." Albus sighed, "I wasn't able to track them because Voldemort chose that moment to arrive."

"Where did they get a port key?" Arthur's voiced was strangled, "If we know where they got it we may be able to find them."

"I think they made it." Albus threw up his hands, "Ronald wasn't wearing a shirt and they were all holding some cloth."

"Ron was wearing a shirt in the battle." Tonks confirmed.

"But they're too young to be able to make portkeys." Kingsley finally spoke, "It doesn't make sense."

"They are all too young. Too young to fight death eaters, too young to be able to slip out of school unnoticed, too young to enter the Department of Mysteries, too young to send such strong stunners and far too young to die." Remus choked out, "They are too young."

"What is known about the veil?" Filius asked.

"It's the doorway to death." Albus muttered, "It's a one way ticket."

"Ok let's say they made a portkey, where would they go?" Kingsley asked changing the subject to something they could affect.

"My first thought was the burrow." Arthur said, "I went and got Molly and they weren't there."

"I thought they would come here, but no one has seen them." Minerva added.

"I checked Hermione's house and Luna's they weren't at either place." Tonks confirmed.

"I called Augusta and she hasn't seen them." Albus finished.

"Wait a minute." Kingsley said thoughtfully, "Didn't Neville's wand get broken?"

"Yes I have it here." Remus pulled two pieces from his pocket.

"Then where did he get another wand?" Kingsley asked, "Because when the five of them sent those stunners he was holding a wand."

No one had an answer so Albus changed the subject, "Poppy is Delores in any shape to talk yet?"

"She's a bit high strung but not overly traumatized." Poppy declared, "You better hurry if you want to talk to her because I've had about all I can take. I'm sending her to St. Mungo's as soon as possible."

"Why do you want to talk to her?" Molly asked.

"I'm hoping if we can find out how they left the school we will find where they are hiding." Albus stood and left his office with Poppy. The rest stayed and waited for his return.

*****The next morning at the Potter home in Wales *****

"Breakfast was delicious Tabitha." Hermione complemented.

"Thank you missy." the elf smiled pleasantly, "They are waiting for you in the library again."

"So these are the hooligans that trashed my department." a new man in the portrait with Jameson and Athena growled, "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Can we get Harry and Sirius out?" Ron asked.

"You trashed my department and want a favor?" the man they realized was Rupert asked, "I could have you all thrown into Azkaban for the damage you did."

"To be honest we didn't cause all the damage." Ron stated, "But I'd gladly go to Azkaban if you can save Harry."

"Gryffindor." Rupert announced, "And the rest?"

"All Gryffindor except Luna." Neville pointed to the blond girl, "However she's extremely brave for a Ravenclaw and more than a bit reckless to be hanging out with us rash Gryffs."

"Thank you Neville that's very sweet of you." Luna smiled serenely.

Rupert leaned his head back and laughed at the girl, "Son you need to keep that girl close. She's a winner."

"Yes Sir." Neville grinned shyly and looked at the ground.

"Now what's this about our Grandson running into the veil?" he asked.

Hermione went through the end portion of the story and then looked pleadingly at the portrait, "Can you save Harry and Sirius?"

"I can't." he said and the group immediately looked despondent, "But you can."

"What do we have to do?" Ginny perked up.

"This evening when they've been inside for twenty four hours you may activate the runes on the doorway and bring them back." he said, "It has to be exactly twenty four hours. Do you know what time he fell through?"

"Seven fifty four and twenty eight seconds." Luna stated simply, when the others looked curious she shrugged, "Harry told me. I think he knew we could get him out and that's why he sent us to Sir Rupert."

"Time is different in that place." Rupert warned, "He will have had time to meet a lot of people before you get to him. It's very likely he won't be exactly the same person."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked fearfully.

"Some come back sadder than when they went in, others are happier." Rupers shrugged, "Everyone is changed to some degree, some more than others. Seeing the other side will change you."

"As long as he doesn't come back dark and evil we can handle anything else." Ron stated.

"Ok, here is what you need to do. First the other four of you need to get your things ready to go. It will be easier to contain if only one of you knows what to do." Rupert waited until they left then began giving instructions and Hermione wrote everything down, "Remember exactly twenty four hours. Will you be returning here?"

"I think we should." she said, "He needs to see his home."

"We'll wait up for you then." Athena smiled as they left to begin their trip to the ministry.

The Prophet the elf had brought them had not said anything about five missing students that morning nor was there anything about Harry's death. It was covered with Voldemort being back and Fudge getting sacked. The group left the house confident they wouldn't be caught. Walking to a nearby road they hailed the Knight Bus. Climbing on they asked to be let off at the visitor's entrance to the ministry. They paid the fare and soon found themselves in London. They all squeezed into the phone box and Ron reached to dial the number.

"Wait." Hermione said, "I think we need to give false names or something."

"I don't think telling lies at the ministry is a good idea." Neville grimaced.

They moved carefully through the ministry and into the Department of Mysteries. In the room with the spinning door Hermione asked for the death veil and the door opened directly into the room. They still had about ten minutes before they needed to have the runes activated so they stood guard at the doors while Hermione inspected the veil. When it was close to time she followed Rupert's steps and waited to touch the last rune until Luna said to go. The door lit up and she stepped away and the rest turned towards the doorway with their wands drawn. After a few seconds two bodies fell through the door and onto the floor just before the door's lights went out.

"That was harder than going in." one voice groaned.

"What do you expect?" the other said, "They told us it would be painful."

"I didn't think it would be that painful." he groaned again.

"All your nerves just woke up." the second one said again, "It's kind of like being crucioed."

"Harry?" Ginny's voice wavered.

"Thanks for getting us." The second voice said as he rolled over on his back. Harry grinned up at his friends, "That was quite an adventure."

"Speak for yourself." Sirius groaned.

"Do you have a portkey?"Harry looked to Luna.

"No we figured we would make one in the lobby again." she shrugged.

"No need. Last time I wanted you to hide your ability to make it." he stretched, "We can leave whenever you're ready, but I'd say the sooner the better. Unspeakables are on their way."

"Touch Sirius and I'll make him a portkey." Luna suggested, "That way he doesn't need to get up."

"Thank you." he groaned, "I'm getting too old for this stuff."

The group disappeared before the first unspeakable entered the room. Albus arrived during the investigation and pull the highest ranking person to the side to get a report.

"What happened, more death eaters?"

"No Sir." the person replied, "Five people entered the ministry thirty minutes ago. Nothing of note about that except when the magic pulsed in this room we noted five persons here. After a second short pulse of magic two more persons were noted and then they all left on a portkey."

"Where did the two come from?" Albus asked.

"We think they came from the door."

"But… can that happen?" he asked.

"There was a study done in the fourteen hundreds. They suspected with a specific rune set activated the last person in could come back out." the person replied, "Nothing was noted as having been proven."

"Who were the five people?" Albus asked.

"The names given were Weasley, Granger, Weasley, Longbottom and Lovegood." the person answered, "Almost the same group from last night."

"You think that three fifth year students and two four years just released two people from the door?" Albus was shocked.

"No I'm saying nothing of the kind." the person replied, "I'm delivering the facts and letting you make up your own mind. Yesterday you asked us not to report two people going into the veil. Are you going to request the same thing today?"

"Yes." Albus replied and turned to go.

Back at the House of Potter in Wales the group landed in a heap in the hallway. Tabitha was waiting for them with several potions for Harry and Sirius.

"Sirius you need to obliviate me." Hermione instructed as she banished the paper in her hand, "Just the last six hours please."

"Why?" he asked as he pulled his wand.

"I don't want to know the combination to open that door. They'll know it was us and I don't want to tell anyone." she explained.

"Good enough." Sirius quickly wiped out her most recent memories.

She stood there for a moment before she blinked, "Harry! How did you guys get out?"

She hugged Harry for all she was worth before turning on Sirius and doing the same. Neville gave her a quick rundown of what had happened. She had taken the notes and activated the door so her memories had to be erased and the rest of them knew nothing. Then since they were safe to celebrate, the whole group shared a round of hugs as they moved to the library. They were all talking excitedly when they entered the room.

"Good to see you all made it." Rupert called down from the portrait the three Potters where still in, "You didn't wreck it again did you?"

"Of course not." Ron replied, "In and out quiet as a mouse."

"Thank you Rupert." Sirius said, "You are looking spiffy this evening. I'm Sirius Black."

"James' friend." Rupert claimed, "I remember you. James locked you in the cupboard with that girl. What was her name?"

"Don't remind me of that." Sirius grumbled, "Marlene gave me a black eye and it wasn't even my fault."

Rupert roared with laughter along with Jameson. Athena smacked each of them on the back of the head, "Quit laughing at his expense or I'll be telling tales on the both of you."

"Hello Grandmother." Harry smiled, "Grandfathers."

"First names Harry." Athena instructed him, "Every portrait here is Grandmother or Grandfather."

"Yes Athena." Harry replied with a smirk, "Thank you for your help Rupert."

"Any time, I live to serve family." Rupert grinned.

"Do you mean that?" Harry asked.

"Certainly." he nodded.

"Great, what can you tell me about horcruxes?"

"What?" the group of teens asked.

"A horcrux is a piece of soul kept in a container." Rupert explained, "It's considered dark magic because the first step is murder or some other kind of horrible act that rips the soul. Why do you ask?"

"When I made it into the other side, two souls had passed not one." Harry explained, "Me and a piece of Voldemort. They think that when he attacked me the magical backlash broke a piece of his soul off and it landed on me. Now in order for that to happen he had to have already broken it apart before. They said that two eighths of Voldemort has passed over and I have to send over the rest."

"Do you know how the other part got over?" Rupert asked scratching his chin.

"Yes, I did it." Harry smiled, "It was not my intent but I'm happy about it anyway." Harry took a few moments to explain about his second year. He did it with one arm wrapped around Ginny to give her comfort.

"You poor dear." Athena gasped when he was finished, "Ginny have you fully recovered from that?"

"Yes, I was physically recovered quite quickly." she whispered, "Mentally it took quite a bit longer. But the nightmares now are few and far between."

"Harry we are very proud of you." Jameson applauded from his portrait, "We had heard part of it from your friends. But your added detail makes it so much more harrowing."

"He always gets the harrowing parts." Neville snickered, "But that's why he's the hero and we're just the sidekicks."

"You are not sidekicks." Harry grumbled at them.

"Here is your wand back." Neville handed it over, "I don't know how I ended up with it."

"I gave it to you." Harry grinned, "It's a bit complicated to explain the dynamics of the next world so I'll skip it."

"What are you going to do about the other horcurxes?" Rupert brought the subject back around, "You'll need to know what and where they are."

"Is there a better way than the tooth of a basilisk?" he asked.

"It's the safest seeing as the basilisk is already dead." Rupert offered, "However, the sword you used to kill the snake would be a good second if you knew where it was."

"Why the sword?" Harry asked.

"It's Goblin made." Rupert said like it explained everything.

The teens and Sirius still looked dumbfounded so Athena explained, "Anything that doesn't destroy a goblin blade combines with it and makes it stronger."

"They should know that." Rupert huffed.

"They have had Binns as a history professor." she explained, "All he ever teaches is goblin and giant wars."

"Jameson I thought you were getting rid of him." Rupert turned on the other man.

"Don't blame me." he said, "I already told Athena I was commissioned before the ruling was made on his teaching. I don't know what happened."

"Those poor children are missing out on all the important history lessons." Athena huffed where she sat on the sofa, "I had to explain to them why house elves are our helpers and bond with us."

"Do you have any idea where any of the horcurxes are?" Rupert ignored Athena's pout.

"There was one in Grimmauld place, my family's house." Sirius said, "My brother sent it there when he died trying to stop Voldemort. He didn't know the man made more. Anyway we cleaned the house out last year so I'm afraid it's gone."

"Maybe Kreacher kept it." Ginny offered, "He horded a lot of things we tried to throw away. Call him and ask."

"Can't hurt." Sirius called his elf and a short time later they had the third known horcrux, but no way to destroy it.

"We need to get into the school." Harry sighed, "We need to get that sword or another tooth."

"Any reason we can't bring Professor Dumbledore in on this?" Hermione asked.

"Sirius did anyone know about this place?" Harry turned from Hermione's question.

"I knew the Potter estate existed but not where it was." he shrugged, "James wasn't allowed to change the wards so Dumbledore suggested a place that Poppy could enter in case of an emergency.

"Did Dumbledore know where it was?" he asked.

"No only James knew. He could only tell his blood children. Lily couldn't even be told where it is other than Wales." Sirius stated, "It's a very special system set up hundreds of years ago. No one knows who set up the wards or how to put them back if they're disrupted. If James had been hurt no one could have come to help him."

"So how is Luna able to make a portkey?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Sirius replied.

"Maybe we're related." Luna offered, "I don't know much about my mother's side of the family."

"Plausible, I wish I would have thought to ask about that while we were there." Harry sighed, "Can't have everything I guess. Ok let's bring Dumbledore in."

"Just curious mind you, but why were you hesitant?" Neville asked.

"I just wanted to know if he had other options for my safety. The Dursleys treated me terribly." Harry shrugged, "Hermione would you write him a letter and ask him to meet Luna in Hogsmeade outside Honeydukes. He needs to come alone."

"Wait, can Remus come too?" Sirius asked. When Harry paused he pushed out his lip and made puppy dog eyes.

"Oh for heaven's sake bring Moony so I don't have to see that look again." Harry shuddered dramatically.

"How are we sending it?" Neville asked, "I've not seen any owls."

"Tabitha." Harry called. When the elf appeared he gave her instructions, "Please take the letter when Hermione is done and drop it on the Headmaster's desk at Hogwarts. Please don't let him see you if you can help it and come back when he reads it. Hermione have the meeting for ten minutes from the time he reads the letter. Tell him we'll know when he opens it. Don't mention Sirius and I."

"What if Moony isn't there?" Luna asked.

"We can bring him later." Harry said, "Dumbledore won't be staying."

Hermione handed off the letter and the elf popped away. She came back almost immediately.

"They were having a meeting and I dropped the letter from the ceiling." Tabitha explained, "He read it and told another man to come with him and he headed for the floo. I can pop to the store and grab both men and pop right back."

"Ok do that." Harry said, "That's safer for everyone. And if it's not Remus with him you can just take him back."

They waited for almost ten minutes before sending the elf. Two quick pops and Albus and Remus were standing in the middle of the library. With wands in their faces they raised their hands slowly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Professor Dumbledore, the first time I was in your office what did I get?" Hermione was standing in front of the two men.

"A time turner." he answered, "I can vouch for Remus."

"The closing phrase if you please Mr. Moony." She ignored the professor.

"Mischief managed." Remus answered.

"Now that we are all sure of the parties gathered." Albus stated, "What is going on?"

"Simple Professor." Harry walked around to the front, "We need the sword of Godric Gryffindor please."

"Harry… you're alive…" he stuttered.

"Yes and I need that sword." he commanded.

"But that is a school artifact that belongs…" he started.

"Spare me." Harry interrupted, "I am requesting it as I have the right to do. You should never have taken it from me. It was mine until the next person summoned it. I am asking politely for it now."

Albus leaned away from the young man with power radiating off him in waves, "Very well Harry, Fawkes."

"Sorry Professor he can't find you right now." Harry waved him off, "You will have to go get it. My elf can take you."

"Fine, we will do this your way." Albus was not happy right now, "Can you at least tell me what is going on?"

"Certainly." the normal Harry was back and Albus was stunned at the change, "Last night Sirius and I went through the veil. During our time spent there we figured out how Voldemort is staying alive. Now we intend to put an end to it. Anything you can tell us would be very helpful."

"Harry I don't think you understand…" he started.

"I understand perfectly. Remus is the only one here that doesn't know about the horcruxes and he'll be brought up to speed very soon. You, however, have a school to run and a decent defense professor to find. We will handle this part." the powerful Harry made an appearance again.

"I don't know how many for sure but I know there is one in a cave." he thought he could give just a bit of information but not enough to help.

"We already have the one from the cave." Harry held up the locket, "Next."

"I suspect the book from your second year was one." Albus continued to stall.

"I know and it's dead. We also know I was one but when I came back through the veil it did not." Harry stated rather shortly, "If you don't have any helpful information then Tabitha will be returning you to your office and getting the sword."

"I know of one more, I suspect it is a ring. I was going to get it in a few weeks. It has some of the most horrible defenses and I don't think any of you should try." Albus explained.

"We will be getting it and you will be staying out of the way." the magical weight behind the words made Albus pause, "You will not being telling anyone about Sirius and I. Where is it?"

"You just…" Albus blinked several times, "You just used Mage Speak on me."

"Yes obviously you weren't going to let it go so you forced me to." Harry said, "Once you answer the question your magic won't let you go near it."

"Then I just won't tell you." Albus decided to get stubborn right back.

The disarming spell caught him off guard and left him with his mouth open. Harry looked back at him holding two wands, "They are mine and I will gather them. You have no say. Please Professor, don't make me hurt you. I just want this all behind me."

"How are you able to switch it off and on like that?" Albus was nearly dizzy with Harry's back and forth between very powerful mage and normal but powerful child.

"It's a talent." Harry grinned, "You require a show of force to get your attention enough for you to even listen to me. It's your fatal flaw, you think you're always right and always know best. Surprise, you aren't and you don't."

"I have lived a lot more life than you have." Albus tried.

"It is true that you've forgotten more about living than what I have lived." Harry acquiesced, "But you have long forgotten your youth and I am still living it. Second, I know what lies beyond and you do not. I have advice from people who know far more than you ever will while you are here. Where is the ring?"

"You think you can possess all three." Albus asked angrily, "You think it will make you invincible?"

"I will possess them and I can control myself with them." Harry flared a final time, "It is my birthright. I know I won't be invincible nor will I defeat death. But I will have what I need."

"Little Hagleton." Albus sighed, "A shack just outside of town. I would like to accompany you."

"You may accompany us if you stay out of the way." Harry said, "But first I need the sword. Remus will be staying but you will have to return. You may tell them that these five have been found and are doing well though they need to deal with their grief. Do not say anything more about Sirius or I."

"Tell them we're allowing Remus to keep an eye on us." Ginny suggested, "And no we do not want our parents here."

"You already know you won't be able to find your way back here." Harry said, "And owls can't find us either. If you'll permit I will bond with Dobby and he can be a go between for us."

"Fine, I have some questions, when will I be able to ask them?" he pursed his lips.

"First." Hermione stepped up again, "I was the only one who was told how to operate the door. I have been obliviated of that knowledge so I can't tell you anything. Second, we really don't know much about what happened from the time Harry ran through the veil to when we ended up here."

"You killed several people." Albus informed her with a self-righteous air.

"Correction we killed several death eaters who were trying to kill us." Neville sneered at the man, "It was self-defense and no one will convict us of anything. If you think we are no better than those we killed, then you better think again. None of us wanted to kill them, we only intended on stunning them. It was necessary to save our lives. You were outnumbered and losing fast. No adult in that chamber was able to move when Harry disappeared. We took the situation in hand and we worked together."

"Well said Neville." Harry clapped him on the back, "Anything we missed?"

"Where did you five go for the twenty four hours you were missing?" Albus asked.

"I don't know." Luna sighed, "We were never told were it was."

"Did someone take you there?" Albus persisted.

"No." Luna said, "I made the portkey but I can't tell you coordinates. I'm not allowed."

"Who won't allow you to?" he sighed hoping she would just tell him.

"The wards of the place we stayed won't allow me to tell you anything." she smiled serenely, "The Nargles told me where to go but not where it is."

"Who told you how to work the door?" Albus gave up on the blond girl and turned to Hermione.

"Sorry sir, I'm not the secret keeper on that." she shrugged.

"None of us are." Ron added when it looked like he was going to ask someone else. Sighing in defeat Albus let the elf pop him away.

"Padfoot, when he gets back I want you to destroy the locket." Harry handed it to the man, "It took your brother's life to get it. You should get the honor."

"Ok." Sirius replied just before he found himself in a tight hug.

"I thought I lost you too." Remus gasped, he'd been hard pressed not to do this in front of the Headmaster, "You need to be more careful. I'm not ready for it to just be me and the rat."

"Sorry Moony, I never meant to fall through the veil." Sirius smiled hugging his friend back, "It was good there. We both did some healing. I'm not half crazy any longer. That place changes you. I feel like my old self, only better."

"Mum and Dad said to say hi and quit hiding." Harry said, "They expect you to take a more active role in my life and to stop letting Dumbledore push you around. You have long ago paid any debt you may owe him for letting you go to school."

"James' words were quit being a cowardly lion." Sirius grinned.

"Lily should never have let you and James see that movie." Remus rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I remember him now." Rupert slapped his knee, "Sorry it took me so long to place you but you were the quiet one of the bunch."

"Good to see you too Rupert." Remus gave a slight bow.

"Now Harry you seem like quite the powerful lad." Rupert said, "How did the other side change you?"

"He's more aggressive." Hermione offered before Harry could say anything.

"More willing to let his power show." Ron added.

"I think he may be taller." Ginny grinned she wasn't looking down on him any longer. They were closer to the same size.

"He doesn't seem to follow Dumbledore any longer." Neville seemed thoughtful.

"He seems just the same to me." Luna contradicted the others.

"Luna I think that's because you rarely see the physical side of nature as the only side of nature." Harry added, "You've always seen the inside of people rather than the outside. I'm more confident and more knowledgeable. I know what I have to do and I'm more than willing to do it. Dad told me to think of Voldemort as a rabid dog. It's best to put him down before he can infect anyone else."

"Dumbledore won't like that attitude." Remus warned.

"He doesn't have to." Harry said glancing at each person as he continued, "He knows as well as I do that Voldemort won't quit trying to kill me until one of us is dead. I'm hoping to make it him. But if I go first it's your responsibility to take him down. Once we take out the horcruxes anyone can kill him."

Tabitha returned with the Headmaster, Dobby and the sword. The small elf took the sword and popped away before Dumbledore could blink. His frown made the others realize Tabitha had just ruined a plan of his. Before anything else happened Harry found himself with Dobby wrapped around his knees.

"Harry Potter Sir. Dobby is so happy to be of service to you." the elf had tears running down his face, "Dobby would love to be part of the first family."

"Thank you for the sword." Harry smiled at the Headmaster, "I'll let you know when we'll be headed after the ring. Remember if you try to get to it first magic will stop you. Painfully if needed. Dobby, take the Headmaster back to school and come here. Don't let anyone follow you back."

Two quick pops later and Harry's knees were engulfed in a hug again. This time it was tight enough to almost make him fall. If Sirius hadn't been right beside him he would have ended up on his backside. It wasn't until the group finished laughing at their friend that Hermione realized something.

"Dobby why did you say you'd love to be part of the first family?" she asked.

"Master Harry's relative was the man who saved us." Dobby whispered.

"Just Harry." the dark haired teen corrected softly, "It's the reason the Dementors are so eager to get me. They hope if they kiss a Potter that they'll be healed."

"What can Dobby do for Master Harry." the elf wiped his eyes.

"Neville needs a wand. Would you take him to Ollivanders and charge the wand to my account." Harry instructed.

"That's not…" Neville started to argue about the wand but found himself at the shop before he could finish the sentence. However the weirdest part for Neville happened when he turned to talk to Dobby and used a voice very different from his own, "Dobby… what happened with my voice?

"Master altered you." Dobby whispered.

He immediately understood when Ollivander entered the shop, "May I help you sir?"

"I broke my wand and I'm in need of a new one please." Neville's new voice requested.

"Right away may I get a name." the man asked as he turned away, "Which is your wand arm."

"Nev Topshort." He answered, "Right handed."

"Odd name." the wand maker mumbled as he flicked his wand and the tape measure began its work, "Muggleborn? Where did you get your first wand? I dare say it wasn't here."

"Halfblood. Mum was a witch, killed by You Know Who. I used hers." He replied sticking with the near opposite answers.

"Did it work well for you?" he asked.

"Moderately, I never felt really comfortable with it, like I wasn't as good as she was." He responded.

"Well in the wands view you weren't." Ollivander responded, "The wand chooses the wizard. If it didn't chose you or if you didn't win it's loyalty it wouldn't work as well as your own. You may find your spells come easier and stay longer with a new one. Try this one."

An hour later Dobby popped him back to the library. He found Harry alone, "You didn't have to."

"Sure I did." Harry grinned and slapped him on the back, "I want my army outfitted with only the best."

"Thanks for the disguise." He replied and told him what had happened, "A little warning would have been nice."

"Nonsense, you needed to know you can think on your feet." Harry steered him out the door and down the hall, "We're starting practice now."

"Practice?"

"Remus and Sirius are our new instructors. We have the summer to get into shape, increase our capabilities with magic and kill off Voldemort." Harry said, "No time like the present to get started."

"Kill V…v….v… him." Neville stuttered.

"One piece at a time, not the whole thing at once." Harry assured him.

"Harry what did you see?" Neville asked, "While you were in the veil I mean."

"I saw my parents. I saw my extended family. I learned things like family is more than blood relation." Harry patted him on the back, "I learned to spot a brother when I see one."

"You mean Ron?" he asked.

"I mean you… and Ron." Harry grinned, "If either of our parents had been available to us we would have grown up as close as brothers."

"What are you going to teach us?" a red Neville changed the subject.

"Why don't we go see." Harry laughed as he led his friend to the others.

"About time you two." Sirius grumbled as they returned, "How long does it take to find a wand?"

"About an hour." Neville sighed, "It didn't help my nerves any that I was altered before I left and had no knowledge of it. Thinking on my feet isn't my strong suit."

"What name did you use?" Ginny asked.

"Nev Topshort." He answered, "Don't tell me how stupid it was. I also told him I was a half blood that had been using my mother's wand. It was easiest to stick with the sort of opposites like that."

"That was a really good idea." Harry put a hand on his shoulder, "Gin what's your fake name going to be?"

"Genevieve Otter. I go by Ginny though." She said, "I'm a muggleborn from Devonshire."

"I'm Star Harold." Luna tossed out, "Muggle born my daddy owns a newspaper."

"Jean Wilkins." Hermione held out her hand like she was introducing herself, "Half blood we think, Mum is a witch but she isn't sure about my father, he was killed before they had a chance to marry. He never knew she was a witch."

"Ron?" Harry turned to him next.

"Bill Otter, Ginny's brother." He added, "We have two others siblings a set of twins that aren't magical. And you are good sir?"

"Porter Gryffin lovely to meet you all." Harry then turned to Remus and Sirius, "Pure blood and that's all you need to know, next."

"Hello, so nice to meet you all I am Reginald Havenshaft, I teach care of magical creatures at a small school in Australia." Remus offered, "I'm a half blood myself."

"Orion Gryffin. Porter is my son." Sirius threw an arm over Harry's shoulder, "Well done all of you. So to complement our new names first lesson is human transfiguration."

"Memorize these looks because anytime we leave this house we'll need to be using those names and looks." Harry instructed, "To make things easier on us all our classes will be as our assumed identities. We need to be able to recognize each other while we are in public."

"What happens if one of us gets figured out?" Neville was sure he'd be the one to give them all away.

"It probably won't happen but if it does we will all change identities so we can hide again." Harry replied, "Next issue, Dumbledore cannot see you in this house in your disguise. We want to hide from everyone when we leave here."

"Harry, why are you so against Dumbledore?" Hermione finally asked after the first day of training.

"I'm not against him." Harry answered.

"I am." Sirius bellowed from his spot.

"We are not against him, we just don't agree with his tactics." Harry glared at Sirius before turning back to Hermione, "I can't agree with someone who would send me to live with the Dursleys and never bother to check up on me."

"That was an act of stupidity." Ron said, "He didn't believe us when we told him about the bars on the windows."

"He didn't want to believe it." Harry said, "He, more than most, does not want to hear about the consequences when he is wrong. He'd honestly prefer to keep doing something wrong than to admit he is wrong."

"Is he wrong about blood?" Hermione asked shakily.


	4. Chapter 4

"No, he is right about that. The blood purity movement started with the Blacks." Sirius explained, "We had a few squibs back a hundred years or so ago and those years there was a larger group of muggleborns than any time previous. My relative decided someone stole the magic from his children and gave it to the muggles. He was a bit insane by the time he had three squib sons, he eventually had a magic son to carry on the name."

"Weren't they taught about the elves back then?" Neville asked.

"No I think Binns was teaching. So many problems could have been avoided by that little bit of information." Hermione said, "But then again it could make life rougher on elves whose family bare squibs. I could see the Malfoys punishing an elf because they had a squib."

"Now that we can transfigure ourselves what's next?" Ginny asked.

"We'll keep practicing that." Sirius said, "You've got it but I want you to be able to put it on and take it off at a moment's notice. That will just be an everyday thing as we continue learning other things. We'll be working on all your classes to make sure you are better than anyone expects you to be. You'll also be learning how to hide it so no one can connect you with your disguise. The last big new thing is animagus transformation."

"Yes!" they all yelled together.

"Will we be able to play with Moony?" Harry asked hopefully.

"NO!" Sirius and Remus were shocked and yelled without meaning to.

"Sorry but no." Sirius apologized at the shocked faces, "If I let you do that Lily would skin me alive."

"Not to mention that certain animals are food." Remus added, "I wouldn't have allowed Sirius and James to either had I known what they were going to do."

"What did they do?" Harry asked grinning.

*****Flashback*****

"Sirius, are you sure?" James asked, "You have to be sure. Moony left classes early today and I don't think they've ever pulled him out a day early."

"I'm positive." Sirius waved him off and he led his friend through the tunnel under the whomping willow and pulled himself through the hole in the floor, "They just pulled him today to cover it better. The calendar says it won't be full until the sixteenth."

"Today is the sixteenth." James said as a snarl ripped through the air, "Sirius you idiot, change quickly."

By the time the werewolf made it down the stairs a dog and a stag stood in place of the two boys. Moony sniffed the air and took a cautious step towards the stag. The stag stood his ground looking regal and self-assured, James had decided that fear in front of the beast would be fatal. The wolf reached forward and gave the stag a push and the stag stumbled back a moment then stepped forward and lowered his head and pushed back. The wolf then stumbled back and stared at the stag, Sirius could almost hear the wolf thinking before it shrugged and looked down at the dog. Sirius barked and wagged his tail waiting for his own test. He got his own light shove that made him stumble. Sirius took a running leap and bodily slammed into the wolf before stepping back barking and wagging his tail again. The evening wasn't perfect and a few injuries were received by all three.

The next morning James and Sirius spoke about their night, "I found it really difficult to maneuver around the rooms. I'm just not made for wood floors."

"We need to get outside." Sirius offered, "Where's Peter, has he been able to change yet?"

"No, he's still having trouble. Can you put the bruise paste on my shoulder, I can't reach it." James flinched as he tried to reach the spot again.

"Shall we go visit Remus?" Sirius asked as he applied the paste.

"No he was pretty angry this morning when he found us there." James laughed, "I think he said something about us deserving every bruise and cut we got for doing something so stupid."

"I tuned him out after the first glare." Sirius grinned, "It's done and tested now so no worries, whens the next time we can play?"

"I think we need to make sure he still wants us to come." James cringed, "He actually said if we did it again he'd turn us in himself. So we should probably make sure he calms down before trying to talk to him again."

"At least he didn't attempt to chew his arm off again." Sirius huffed, "I mean we're doing this for him, why is he on such a high horse?"

"Maybe because I don't want to lose my friends, did you think about that?" Remus hissed from the doorway.

*****end flashback*****

"You got the date wrong and walked in on a fully grown werewolf." Ginny snickered, "You really are an idiot."

"That's it she can't be your friend now." Sirius huffed, "Not after calling me an idiot."

"I call you an idiot all the time." Harry grinned.

"Fine then, you deserve each other." Sirius flopped back in his chair.

"Love you Sirius." Harry and Ginny sat on either side of him and threw their arms around him, "We're sorry you're an idiot."

Sirius grabbed each of them around the waist and started tickling them. Instead of trying to get away they tickled him back and soon everyone was in a heap on the floor tickling and laughing. They were breathless by the time they stopped.

"How do we start the animagus transformation?" Harry asked.

"We have to brew a potion." Remus grinned.

"We don't have any ingredients that I know of." Harry turned away and called for Tabitha. When she arrived he asked, "Is there a potions lab or supply closet?"

"Oh yes Master Harry." She smiled and jumped up and down, "Master Jameson was a potions master. He taught at Hogwarts for several years. We have a first rate potions lab and supplies."

"Show the way then." He grinned and the group followed.

A few days later Harry under the invisibility cloak, Remus and a black dog met with Dumbledore at Hogsmeade. Together they apparated to Little Hagleton and Harry followed them to the shack a good ten minute walk from the apparition point. Just as they were leaving that point a very soft pop disturbed the air just out of hearing range.

"Here it is Harry." Albus waved his hand at the shack, "I would advise you to let me handle this part."

"No." Harry pulled off his cloak and handed it to Remus, "I'd stand back if I were you."

Albus stood his ground until Remus grabbed his arm and pulled him back beside himself and Sirius. As they were concentrating on Harry a ward was placed around them far enough out that they couldn't sense it being placed. Harry threw his hands into the air and bowed his head ever so slightly. Mumbling under his breath he moved to the left and then to the right. In the air he drew a large circle and drew two lines across and up and down. In the intersecting point he pushed his wand towards the house and started chanting. First the intersecting lines lit up and then the circle. After a few second the wards formed a visible dome over the shack. Harry stepped back and looked at Remus before he sent a blasting hex at the center of the intersected lines. Both he and Remus tossed up shields, Albus did a few seconds later. The wards crashed with a loud gong.

"That was not wise. We'll probably have muggles on us in a few seconds." Albus frowned.

"We won't." Harry said, "I placed a silencing spell over the area before I started."

He walked forward again and Remus held Albus from following. Harry repeated his search for wards taking a step or two towards the house before checking the area again. Back and forth, left then right, step by step he checked until he reached the door. No more wards were around the property. At the door he stepped back and shot several spells and watched as the horrendous curses were removed before he did a final check on the door and then opened it. Dark magic covered nearly every square inch of the inside of the house. He dismantled hex after hex until he reached the darkest curse of them all. He had detected it as soon as he entered the building and every step was a move towards that curse. He levitated the loose floor board out of the way and then the ring box which had a curse all its own. He dropped the ring into a small bag and carefully made his way out of the shack. Albus was still standing between Remus and Sirius but was looking around. Harry grinned evilly as a whispered message met his ears. Albus turned towards him as he cleared the door way.

"Well done Harry." He said, "I see you haven't removed the curse on the ring. Was it too difficult for you? Do you want to bring that back to Hogwarts and I can help you?"

"No need." Harry smirked, "By the way Kingsley sends his regards and his regrets. He won't be meeting you here."

"What?" Remus asked glaring at Albus who looked worried.

"You see Headmaster. A silencing spell wasn't the only thing I placed around us." Harry's voice turned hard and he let some of his power loose, "You just can't get it through your head that we are doing this my way. You do not know what you're dealing with here and I suggest you quit trying to circumvent my rules on you. The ring is mine and you will never get to touch it."

"But…" Albus looked longingly at the bag.

"Remember I've been beyond the veil. I know what lies there. I know who lies there. She doesn't hold you responsible. You need to forget this stone or it will drive you insane. Well more insane than you pretend to be." Harry added with a grin to soften the blow he had just given the man.

"What was Kingsley supposed to be here for?" Remus asked.

"I just wanted to make sure we had proper back up." Albus stated.

"Don't worry about backup." Harry said, "The three of you plus the six of us and two elves was plenty enough. We sent Kingsley back to your office. He might be a wee bit confused."

Remus and Sirius had moved to Harry's side as he spoke. Before Albus could respond the three of them were popped away by an invisible elf. Sighing again at his thwarted plan Albus went back to school to try and unscramble Kingsley's brain.

"That's four." Sirius crowed as Harry slammed the sword down on the ring. The metal cracked and the curse broke but the stone stayed whole.

Harry placed the ring and cloak on the table beside the wand. Together they folded the cloak into a triangle as the rest watched them and then they placed the ring on top of the cloak. Lastly they laid the wand across both, which was hard since the stone was so small. After a few moments the three items began to float. Harry and Sirius both turned to the side looking the same way.

"As promised." Sirius said.

"Thank you for allowing this." Harry added.

No one could see or hear who they were talking to but the room had gotten very cold just before they three items started to float. It reminded Hermione of the Dementors.

Sirius and Harry nodded at the same time. Suddenly a flash took the wand away. A second flash took the stone. Instead of a third flash as they were expecting the cloak floated back to the table and Harry smiled brightly.

"Thank you. It really means a lot to me." Harry glanced at the cloak for a moment then back to the same space Sirius was looking at.

"Thank you for sparing them." Luna looked at the same spot, "We would have suffered much without them. But I'm sure you knew that."

The cold air lifted as the other five looked at Luna. Harry and Sirius walked to her and hugged her to them. The three stayed like that until someone interrupted them.

"What just happened?" Ron voiced what all of them were wondering.

"We were paying our debt." Harry smiled, "We were supposed to return all of Deaths hallows. That is why he allowed us to come back. But he let me keep the cloak since it was a family heirloom."

"Could you see him?" Sirius asked Luna.

"No, not like you two anyway." She stated, "He looked like a crumpled horned snorkack to me. But I think it was to amuse himself more than anything."

"Didn't we get you from the veil?" Hermione asked.

"Yes but Death allowed us to interfere enough in life to get you to this house so you could get the answers." Sirius explained.

"You've paid him now so you get to stay right?" Remus asked worriedly.

"We get to stay until death takes us for the final time." Sirius explained, "It may be in five minutes or it may be in five hundred years, we don't know any more than you do about your own death."

Luna's watch took that moment to chime, "Oh, the animagus potion is ready."

The six teens made a mad dash to the potions room and the two adults grinned at each other before following. They finally reached the room a few minutes later to find them all gathered around the potion. Hermione was carefully ladling the potion into serving sizes. Six were set aside for them to take and the rest were labeled and placed on a shelf. She then handed out the potions and they all turned to find Remus and Sirius.

"What now?" Harry grinned excitedly.

"Pup you look like a three year old with that face." Sirius laughed.

"You act like a three year old all the time." Harry threw back, "Where are we going to take this?"

"We'll go to our practice room." Remus explained, "It's big enough for any creature you become. I'll have a few more instructions when we get into the room."

"No." they all turned to the portrait on the wall, "We always do animagus potions out on the quidditch pitch."

"Jameson!" Harry grinned, "Where have you been?"

"I went to my other portrait." He explained, "I wanted to make sure there hasn't been any advancements in that potion since I was a potions master. There hasn't so off we go."

"I wish we could take you outside with us." Harry smiled.

"You haven't been out back have you?" Jameson grinned, "Head on out."

Harry was the first out the back door and he ran just far enough to look back at the house. Not seeing anything he continued on to the quidditch pitch. He started laughing before the others caught up to him. Remus and Sirius knew what he was seeing so they didn't run with the others to catch up.

"I've never seen a portrait outside before." Hermione looked it over, "You must have a ton of protection charms on this thing."

"We do." Athena grinned widely, "Now let's see those transformations."

Before they could start Dobby popped into the clearing with an owl on his shoulder, "Master Harry I have a letter for Miss Ginny."

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed and held his arm up for the owl, who was still connected to the letter, to fly to him, "Thank you Dobby, I've been missing her something awful."

Ginny reached up to take the letter and Hedwig pulled her leg away from her hand, "That's odd."

"Wait a minute." Sirius ran his wand over the letter, "Finite. It was a portkey."

"Who is it from?" Ron asked.

"The twins." She said opening and glancing at the bottom, "But they wouldn't try that." She frowned then began to read the letter.

_Dear Ginny,_

_Dumbledore says he found you guys and agreed to deliver the letter._

"Well I think we know who added the portkey now." Sirius muttered.

_We're missing you lots GinGin (and Ron too we suppose) and hope you are doing ok. Harry wouldn't want you to be sad for him and …_

"I'll just skip that part." She read ahead.

_If you guys need anything don't hesitate to contact us. We'll get you whatever you need and we won't be pestering you to come home. It would be nice if you could make it for our grand opening in the fall. You know Harry gave us his money from the tournament to open it and we'll be doing it in his memory._

"We need to stop them from doing that." Harry said, "We don't want everyone thinking we're dead if they haven't announced it in the Prophet yet."

_Dumbledore told us we should make sure there is a big sign and picture but we know Harry hates that kind of thing. He'll be on our minds though you can guarantee it._

"That old man is interfering again." Harry growled, "I'm going to have to get a magical oath from him."

"I can't believe he's pushing this." Hermione huffed, "What is he trying to do?"

"He's trying to force us out in the open." Remus frowned, "They were planning to do something like this to get the five of you to come out. But now he's directing it at Harry."

_Love you sis, Ron too if he asks. Remember anything at all and we'll be there for you. We considered Harry a brother so we completely understand what you're going through. Well maybe not you Gin but Ron anyway. We hope to see or hear from you soon. _

_Love Gred and Forge_

"That was sweet." Luna smiled.

"Dobby could you go get two more vials of this potion and bring them to me." He instructed. The elf popped away without a word and was back in a few seconds.

"What are you thinking?" Ginny asked.

"I think we need to bring Fred and George in on this." He grinned evilly, "A little support to keep Dumbledore in his place. We'll have to be careful that he doesn't find out they are in on the secret."

"What grand opening are they talking about?" Sirius asked, "Why did you give them the money?"

"I didn't want the money because Cedric died." Harry shrugged, "So I gave it to them to open the shop they always dreamed of."

"What are those to miscreants selling?" Remus wondered.

"Pranks, what else?" Harry laughed, "They opened a joke shop."

"No way." Sirius laughed, "I bet Molly is about to explode."

"She will be when she finds out what they've been up to." Ginny giggled along, "They've been refusing to tell her."

"Does Dumbledore know what the shop is? Will he spill the beans?" Remus asked.

"I suspect he has guessed what they're doing." Harry grinned, "But he loves a joke as much as the next person so I doubt he'll tell Molly what they're up to. I'm wondering if he knows I financed them or if he's just using our friendship."

"Are you going to send for them?" Ron asked he looked quite excited, "I want to hear about their products."

"What do you think?" Harry asked Sirius.

"Do you trust them?" he asked.

"With my life and my funny bone." Harry grinned and turned to Dobby, "If you get them to come with you and they agree to keep it a secret then bring them here."


	5. Chapter 5

Sirius and Harry were under the cloak when Dobby returned with the twins. The two immediately hugged their siblings and whispered to them. They then traded siblings and did it again. Finally they hugged the rest of the group.

"Hey don't we get hugs?" Harry pulled the cloak off.

"Harry!" they cried, "Dumbles said you were dead."

"The news of our demise has been greatly exaggerated." Sirius grinned.

"Actually it wasn't exaggerated. We went through the veil. We made a deal with Death and he let us come back." Harry said, "We ordered Dumbledore not to tell anyone when we got back."

"And now we ask you not to tell a soul anything we've just told you." Sirius added.

"You order Dumbledore and tell us nicely?" George questioned.

"We know you'll do it if we ask." Harry grimaced, "So do you guys want to learn to be animagus with us?"

The twins looked at each other and then back to Harry, "Yes that would be lovely. Thanks for the invite."

"Right then." Sirius clapped his hands together, "Here's what you do. Each of you in turn will drink your potion. I want you to lie down in the middle of the pitch and we'll watch to see if anything happens."

"One of two things will happen." Remus took over, "You will either have a vision of your animal or nothing will happen which means you don't have the ability."

"Oldest first." Fred called before anyone could say anything.

"That's the way we did it." Sirius laughed.

Harry handed him a vial and he moved to the middle of the field. He sat down and drank the potion before he lay on his back. They watched him for several minutes before he began to glow a red color. He was lifted off the ground and hovered there.

"He is having a vision." Sirius whispered.

The red glow lasted for about seven minutes before he was gently lowered to the ground. It was another several minutes before he woke up.

"That was brilliant." Fred whooped when he woke up.

"What were you?" Hermione asked.

"Don't tell." George interrupted before he could say anything, "I don't want to know what I'm going to become."

"Wouldn't dream of it, we'll tell you when Georgie is done." Fred agreed.

George copied Fred right down to the whoop at the end, "Brilliant was the perfect word for it brother mine."

"Well?" Ron was the first to burst.

"Red monkeys of some kind." They answered together.

"That fits." Hermione snickered.

"You're next." Fred and George bowed to the snickering girl and gave her a hand up from where she was sitting on the grass.

When Hermione started to glow it was more of a golden brown color. As they waited the others had a few questions.

"What are the colors?" Ron whispered first.

"They seem to be the same color as your animal." Sirius explained, "I glowed black, James glowed brown and the rat was a hideous grey."

"Hermione seems to be taking longer." Luna observed.

"Then that should mean that she's going to be a larger animal than either of these." Remus explained, "James glowed for nearly thirty minutes while Sirius glowed for more like fifteen or twenty."

"Eighteen minutes and twenty three seconds." Sirius corrected, "The rat lasted about two minutes stupid little vermin."

"No anger issues there." Fred commented as Sirius shook off the grass he had pulled out of the ground.

Harry chuckled humorlessly as Hermione finally settled on the ground, "Thirty five minutes."

When she finally woke up she had a huge grin on her face, "I'm a lioness."

"Cool." Ron smiled, "That's me next."

After another thirty five minutes a red faced Ron grinned, "I'm a lion with a red tint in my mane."

"I knew it." Ginny cackled, "You two were made for each other. Neville you beat Harry by a day so you're next."

"I think I'll pass." He said nervously.

"Nev there is nothing saying you have to be an animagus." Harry said, "We're doing this for fun. If you can't we won't think anything of it but I'm betting you'll be the coolest animal of the bunch."

"That's your job." He chuckled, "Are you sure it won't matter if I'm not?"

"Power doesn't matter. You can or you can't that is all." Remus explained, "But you have more power than you think you do."

"I know, Harry taught me a lot." He stumbled his way to the center of the field. Everyone could tell he was nervous, "Please don't let me be anything that flies."

Harry snickered before talking, "If you are you'll be the best flyer out there. You won't need an unstable broomstick, you'll be a natural."

"Thanks Harry." Neville downed his potion. When he began to glow he had a mix of brown and black in his aura. His glow lasted for a little more than fifteen minutes before subsiding. When he came out he grinned widely and pumped his fist, "Yes, I get to keep all four feet on the ground."

The group laughed before Harry asked, "What are you?"

"A dog." Sirius cheered loudly but quieted so he could continue, "Not quite as big as Sirius but big none the less. Black and tan colored and it's very intimidating. I don't know what breed it is though."

"We'll look up you and the twins when we get back inside." Remus patted him on the back, "Good job."

"Harry you are next." Hermione pushed on his shoulder.

He grinned back at her and made his way to the middle of the field. He had barely made it to the ground before he started glowing black and levitating.

"Wow, I don't think any of us responded that quickly." Ron stated.

"Normally it takes several minutes to start." Sirius shrugged.

After twenty minutes of levitating they got a surprise when his body turned over, "Whoa, I've not see that before. Moony we didn't do that did we?"

"No." he breathed and leaned towards the portrait, "Anything from you all?"

"Never in all my years did I think I'd get to see this." Jameson exclaimed excitedly, "He's going to transform."

"That can happen?" Sirius gaped.

"He should be some kind of magical animal if my research is right." Jameson started to ramble, "I'd say either very large or very powerful by the length of the glowing. How long has it been?"

"Thirty minutes." Hermione glanced at her watch for a second.

"Maybe both." He rambled further, "I only read about this in one very ancient book. I ran across it quite by accident while visiting my father at his workplace. He was an auror and had picked up a book thought to be full of dark magic. However it was just a potions journal. They never found out who wrote it."

"Hush darling something is happening." Athena interrupted him.

As they watched the black glow around Harry turned into a shadow that covered him. Just as they were beginning to panic at his disappearance a song was heard and something burst out of the darkness. They couldn't tell what it was, just that it could fly. What they assumed was Harry rocketed into the sky before changing directions and plummeting back. Ginny let out a small cry of fear as he neared the ground. But he opened his wings and soared back into the sky.

"Did any of you get a good look at him?" Sirius asked.

"He's a bird." Hermione huffed, "That's about all I got."

"I know what he is." Ginny breathed, "He's so large though."

"What is he?" Sirius asked.

He landed and Ginny told them what they could all tell now, "A Phoenix."

"I knew it." Jameson cried from the portrait, "Magical and powerful."

"But he's twice the size of Fawkes." Ron stared at the bird.

After a moment the black glow was back. They watched as Harry returned to normal and was placed on the ground. Luna looked at her watch before nudging Hermione.

"Did you have forty seven minutes and thirty six seconds?" she asked.

"Yes." Hermione looked down, "Although it may have been a second or two before I looked."

Harry groaned and rolled over before trying push himself up. Sirius and Ginny were up and running to help him before he could collapse back to the ground, "Did anyone see the hippogriff that trampled me?"

"How do you feel?" Sirius asked and then grinned when Harry glared, "I mean other than feeling like you've been trampled?"

"How else should I feel? I don't remember the others needing helped up after their vision." Harry grumbled.

"What do you remember?" Jameson asked when they reached them.

"I remember seeing a Phoenix flying around." Harry said, "Then after a while I felt like I was the Phoenix. It even looked like I was flying here and I saw all of you."

"Harry that part wasn't a vision." Ginny placed her hand on his arm, "You transformed."

"What?" he turned wide eyes to her, "I did what? I didn't know that was possible. Did you guys know that was possible?"

"I knew." Jameson said as he jumped around in the portrait, "But I never thought I'd see someone actually do it."

"Harry I told you it was your job to be the coolest animal." Neville called out.

"My turn." Ginny leaped up and rand to the middle of the field.

As Ginny drank her potion Harry asked, "Was I a black Phoenix with red tips on the feathers?"

"Yep." Sirius grinned at his godson until Jameson interrupted them with a shout.

"Two in one day!" he yelled making the rest jump.

Ginny, just the same as Harry, immediately started to glow and levitate. Her glow was red instead of black. Her time was slightly shorter and the red blur that erupted was a bit smaller than Harry. She dive bombed them the same way Harry did and he couldn't stop grinning.

"Red with black tips." He said with wonder, "It's just like dad said Sirius."

"In some ways a perfect match, in other ways the exact opposite." Sirius repeated what they had heard as Ginny reached the ground and transformed back.

Ron, Fred and George were staring at the two of them as Luna and Remus helped Ginny to sit up.

"A fiery disposition that just fits her." Harry whispered, "How did I miss it before?"

"Miss what?" Ron asked as the other two pulled Ginny to her feet.

"That Ginny is the mate to my soul." He whispered in awe his eyes still fixed on her, "The perfect match for me."

"That means you won't ever hurt her right?" Ron asked.

"Couldn't ever hurt her, I'd die first." He whispered and reached out to help her to sit by him.

The group watched as Harry pulled her close and held onto her. He looked right into her eyes and said, "Beautiful."

"Thank you." She sighed and leaned on his shoulder, "You are right. That was painful but brilliant all the same."

"Brilliant." He agreed.

"Luna is next." Ron said loudly from Harry's other side. It jolted his friend enough to look away from Ginny for the first time.

"What?" he asked.

"It's Luna's turn." He said a bit quieter.

Harry's arm was still around Ginny as they turned to watch Luna. Fred and George moved to sit next to their sister. They were quiet for a few minutes until Luna began to glow white.

"Brother mine what was it that she said earlier?" George asked.

"Do you mean when our little brother turned into a lion like his lady love?" Fred asked.

"Yes that's the time." George nodded.

"I think it was something like, I knew it you two were made for each other." Fred acted like he was thinking hard.

Harry grinned and Ginny just swatted at her closest brother lightly, "Shut it."

"We cannot do that with a clear conscious." George stated.

"We must visit your words back upon you." Fred agreed.

"I can visit your words back on you if you wish." Ginny yawned still leaning on Harry.

"Which words would that be?" the asked together.

"Something about me teaching you how to do the bat boogey hex." She grinned and went back to watching Luna.

"You were correct Harry, fiery disposition indeed." Fred scooted away from his sister with a look of slight fear gracing his face.

"What was that about?" Harry asked quietly.

"They wanted me to teach them that hex." She grinned, "So I used it on them and said there that's how it's done."

Harry chuckled before asking, "What is her time?"

"Three minutes glowing." Hermione answered.

Twenty minutes later Jameson stated, "Looks like another large animal."

"Well there goes my guess of a fluffy white rabbit." George huffed jokingly.

"Unless she's the size of a hippogriff." Fred offered.

"She may be a hippogriff." Jameson pondered, "A Pegasi wouldn't be out of character would it?"

"I doubt she'd be a horse of any sort." Harry offered, "She just doesn't see the reason to carry burdens. More of a free spirit"

"Wild horses are free spirits." Hermione suggested.

"I'm betting more of a hunter type." Ginny offered, "She loves her safaris with her father."

"But she wouldn't kill anything." Hermione argued.

"Don't be too sure." Harry said, "If her friends are in danger she can be very forceful. Remember her attacks at the Ministry."

Luna sat up and turned to her friends with a large smile, "I'm a polar bear."

Most of the group had shock on their faces but Harry grinned as Ginny explained Luna's link to the creature, "Solitary, fierce and she goes where she wants when she wants and doesn't let anyone or anything stop her."

"I rather like the cold too." She added.

"Now Harry you and Ginny must wait until tomorrow then I want you to begin to try the transformation. It may actually be easier for you to achieve because you have already done it once." Jameson directed, "Nothing more today because you've just had a magically draining experience. The rest of you should get working on your transformations."

"What do we do?" Luna asked.

The rest of the evening was spent learning how to transform. Remus quoted the books and made sure they had the facts while Sirius offered advice on ways to understand the whole process better. The next morning just after the twins had returned to the shop Harry called Dobby and Tabitha.

"Dobby I need to speak with the Headmaster alone." Harry sighed, "I'm going to lock myself in my study and I want you to make sure he is dressed and bring him here. If he's asleep don't wake him, but as soon as he is awake and dressed properly bring him to me. Tabitha please provide us some breakfast when he arrives, or tea if it's later in the day."

"Yes Harry." The two bowed together and popped away. A few minutes later the Headmaster was dropped unceremoniously into a chair opposite Harry. Breakfast appeared a few seconds later.

"Good morning."

"Harry, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Albus had taken a moment or two to realize he had been moved to another place.

"I am quite disappointed in you." Harry steepled his hands in front of him while his elbows rested on his desk. It was a pose that Albus used often when he was expressing his displeasure in someone.

"What did I do?" he had a most innocent face that didn't fool Harry for a moment.

"Fred and George." He frowned, "You placed a portkey on the letter. We disabled it before you could take Ginny away. Second the opening day of the shop, big production with my picture… not going to happen."

"They know?" he asked.

"Ron and Hermione spoke with them." Harry didn't lie because the two of them had spoken to the twins. He didn't want the two of them looked at too closely, "I want a magical vow from you that you won't intentionally mess up my plans anymore."

"Harry, I don't think you know…" he didn't get any farther than that.

"We've already discussed this. I know far more than you do on this subject. I have better advice than anything you could give me." Harry spoke quietly but his words held the weight of his power, "Your meddling is going to get someone else killed."

Albus shrunk at his words. Harry knew what he had done. It took some will power but the Headmaster set aside his own guilt before speaking, "Harry I need to know you aren't going dark."

"Are you afraid I'm going to join Voldemort?" he asked in true awe at the man's stupidity.

"No." he corrected, "I merely think you're going to try and take over and run the world as you see fit."

"Like you are doing?" Harry asked with a smirk, "No, I'm not nearly as dark as you are. I've never manipulated people or events to do my bidding. I don't make backroom deals to get my way. I'm not letting an insane racist run around killing people so he could have a second or third chance when he didn't give those he killed even one chance. No I'm trying to put down a rabid dog before he infects the rest of the world. Don't make me do the same to you."

"Are you threatening me?" Dumbledore gaped.

"No merely promising that if you continue to slide down the path to darkness I'll stop you before you embarrass yourself." He shrugged, "You know that's what friends do for each other. However, you have lost the sight to see people; anyone who doesn't agree with you is dark unless they are dark enough for you to think they need a second chance. When was the last time you gave a second chance to someone in the order?"

"No one in the order has done anything to need a second chance." Albus tried to get the upper hand but realized he had just walked into a trap.

"Yet, knowing what would happen, you sent many of them to their deaths. You allowed Sirius to stay a fugitive when you could have demanded a trial. You continue to try to make Remus feel like he owes you for your favor when you only allowed him into school because you were forced to. He doesn't know that yet by the way, but Sirius does."

Albus swallowed nervously, "Now Harry…"

"No not me." Harry grinned and tapped the table with his finger to emphasis his words, "You have dug this hole yourself. You were quite content with sending me down the path to death without any warning. I'm not going to be kept in the dark any longer. You are going to learn how it feels. I'm not going to tell you anything so in order to not mess up my plans you need to stick to just being a Headmaster."

"I have some other responsibilities too." He pointed out.

"With all the mistakes you've been making do you really think you should have all those responsibilities?" Harry asked, "Albus, I know who killed your sister do you want me to tell you?" The man hesitated for a moment before he bowed his head and nodded, "It was her own magic. She was a time bomb just waiting for the right time to explode. If you're mother had offered any resistance before she died they both would have died. It was going to happen sooner rather than later. He may have started the excitement that day but even something much smaller could have done it. Let it go, she has."

"Can I talk to her?" he asked.

"No, I no longer have the stone."

Albus looked up quickly, "What did you do with it?"

"I sent it home." Harry held his hands out in front of himself in a show of no possession, "They were too powerful for humans to hold. That lesson was learned by the first two brothers too late. I learned the lesson from them, I gave them back."

"No one else has been into the death chamber." Albus argued, "How could you send them back."

"Do you really think I need to be in that chamber to talk with death?" Harry asked.

"The hallows?" he asked.

"No it was the whole going through the veil and dying that gave me the ability." Harry scoffed, "The whole hallows legend is really misleading. To master death is to die. The person who held all three at the same time would instantly die and death would get his artifacts back."

"Oh." The Headmaster sat back in his seat with a slightly stunned expression.


	6. Chapter 6

"Right, so now I need that vow if you please." Harry nodded his head and looked expectantly at the man.

"I don't want to give up my positions." Albus sighed, "I can get Sirius that trial."

"First you'll have to let the order know we are still alive." He instructed, "Then you can get him a trial. But I want you to stay out of the Voldemort issue."

"What about the order?" Ablus pushed, "We can help you."

"I'm not saying you can't help in the war." Harry sat back and relaxed, "I want you to stay out of my hunt. Chase death eaters to your heart's content but quit letting them go. Fight to win or quit fighting."

"I won't murder people." He argued.

"Then you are murdering the rest of us." Harry pointed out, "Lucius was ready to kill us. He had killed many before. You knew his claim of imperious curse was false. But you wanted to give him another chance. So he has continued to torture and kill for ten more years. How many people didn't get to lead a life because a murderer wasn't put down? All that blood is on your hands."

"But I didn't kill them." Albus argued.

"If I avoid telling you the truth is it the same as lying?" Harry asked.

"It depends." Albus protested, "In some cases it helps."

"It doesn't make it any less of a lie." Harry shook his head, "Not telling someone what they are getting for Christmas is not the same as not giving proof that you know a person can throw off the imperious curse. How many of his victims were children that were never given the chance of having a life let alone a second chance. How many since he escaped first justice. Now the man can't kill anyone else."

"You are twisting the truth." Albus accused.

"No that's what you are doing." Harry argued back, "Do you have any doubt that Voldemort has to die?"

"If he can be turned we could…" he started.

"You are a fool." Harry threw his arms up, "He isn't even fully human. He has given up his soul to live forever. Half of his soul is already passed over. Yet you are willing to let him send whole souls over to try and save his half of one. Who is twisted?"

"You're making me sound heartless." Albus huffed.

"Because that is what you are acting like." Harry offered, "You see us as chess pieces moving us around to achieve your goals. Tell me how you are going to win when you sacrifice your own pieces to save the opponents pieces."

Albus sat back and thought hard on the analogy that Harry had just put forward. Then he thought back over the whole conversation. Half an hour later he was still sitting in his chair staring off into space. Harry waited patiently and quietly thanked Tabitha when she removed the remains of their breakfast and left a tea tray. They sat for several hours in silence while Albus continued to think. Harry got bored and began to work on his animagus transformation. He had several black feathers with red tips sprouting from his head when Albus finally finished.

"I think you are… feathers Harry?" he stopped mid statement when he noticed Harry wasn't his completely normal self.

"Animagus transformation." He grinned, "This is all the farther I've gotten."

"Minerva will be ecstatic, I'm quite proud of you myself." He grinned.

"Including the verbal reprimand from this morning?" Harry brought the subject back around.

"Yes well, I suppose I understand your point of view." He sighed, "I never thought of it that way before. I thought I was doing a good thing by giving them a second chance."

"Second chances are fine when it isn't for a person who is going to continue to kill as long as you'll let them." Harry explained, "Giving Snape a second chance was the right thing to do. But you didn't lie for him like you did for Malfoy. Give second chances where they are due. Give appropriate punishments where they are due. There are students at school that bully others relentlessly. Do you think if you don't punish them for that they will just stop on their own? They will not. Bullies will continue until they are forced to stop. Punishments need to happen."

"Draco Malfoy won't be bullying people now." Albus sighed, "He may not even return to Hogwarts."

"I'm not talking about just Malfoy." Harry shook his head, "I know one girl that everyone in her house picks on. They hide her belongings the first week of school and return them on the last. One year I found her outside in November without any shoes on because they had stolen all of hers. Bullying happens in every house even Gryffindor."

"Who is the girl?" Albus asked full of concern.

"Why don't you watch next year and see if you can spot her." Harry smiled, "Then I'll know you're trying."

"Fair enough." Albus gave in with a nod then lifted his wand, "I Albus Dumbledore do swear on my magic to only do what Harry asks me to do in the hunt for Tom Riddle's horcruxes."

"Good. Now I would also like you to quit trying to manipulate me." Harry grinned, "However I will give you a second chance to stop on your own before I ask for a vow on that."

"How are you doing Harry?" Albus asked.

"Really good." He smiled in return, "I'm not going to my muggle prison this year for torture so I'm good."

"You really need to go back for the blood wards…" he began.

"I'm going to break them." Harry interrupted, "Do you want to move my family somewhere else?"

"But Harry they protect you from Voldemort." Dumbledore insisted.

"He used my blood to regenerate his body. If he knew it was blood wards he would walk right through and kill me." Harry shook his head, "They are useless."

"I didn't think of that." Albus sagged into his chair, "What do you want me to do?"

"Honestly I don't care." Harry shrugged, "I am quite apathetic where they are concerned. School ends tomorrow I didn't owl them to pick me up."

"I'll add some wards to the home for when the blood wards fail." Albus sighed in defeat, "Fidilus won't work so maybe just some wizard repelling wards."

"Dobby I think the Headmaster is ready to leave." Harry called.

After the man had left Harry found himself heading for his quidditch pitch with a quick stop for his broom. It had been an emotion conversation and he needed to clear his head before he saw anyone else. Ginny had been searching for Harry ever since their training had finished just before lunch. She was walking by one of the upstairs windows when she saw him striding towards the pitch. She noticed an elf pop up at his side and speak before it popped away.

"Dobby."

"Yes Missy Weazzy." Dobby popped in.

"Do you know where Harry has been all day?" she asked.

"Yes Missy, he was talking with Mister Dumby Professor." He answered.

"Thank you." She grimaced.

The elf popped away and Ginny headed to her room and got her broom. She then went to the pitch and sat to watch Harry fly for a while. Ron walked up while she was watching.

"What's wrong?" he was looking at Harry when she turned to him.

"He met with Dumbledore this morning." She replied.

"I didn't hear any yelling." He sounded unconcerned.

"He would have silenced the room." She replied, "And locked the doors up tight."

"I suppose. Does he know you're here?" Ron finally looked at his sister.

"Don't know, he's not given any indication that he knows but…" she shrugged.

"Yes he's creepy that way." He gave a grin to let her know he was teasing, "I'll let them know where you are."

"Ok." She was back to gazing at Harry.

By the time Ron reached the house he looked back to see his sister rising in the air on her broom. He gave a small smile knowing his best friend was in good hands. He turned back to the house and went to the training room to let Sirius know Harry had been found. The group breathed a sigh of relief until Ron told them where he had been all morning. Hermione was ready to storm after Harry until Ron told them Ginny was already with him and they were flying.

Ginny pulled up beside where Harry had finally stopped. He was just floating along with his thoughts focused inward. She wasn't even sure he knew she was there until he spoke.

"Hi."

"Hi." She responded.

"Sorry I skipped training." He didn't look at her but continued to watch the birds flying around the nearby trees.

"How was Dumbledore?" she let him know he wasn't fooling her.

He shrugged before saying, "He wasn't all that talkative."

"So you did all the yelling then." She interpreted.

"Not so much yelling." He grinned at her perceptiveness then scratched his chin, "More reprimanding."

"Is he still speaking to us?" she asked.

"Yes, I think I got through to him." He looked away, "He didn't understand he has blood on his hands. He thought because he didn't kill them himself that he was light."

"You told him he's a dark wizard?" Ginny gaped.

"No he accused me of being one and I told him I'm not nearly as dark as he is." Harry explained, "Then I pointed out how not stopping death eaters was just inviting them to keep killing us. He kept going on about second chances. I finally got through when I used a chess analogy."

"You used chess?" she grinned at him. It was well known he was terrible at the game.

"I told him if he continued to sacrifice his own pieces then Voldemort would win by default. I was trying to get him to see the death eaters need to be off the playing field. Not just sent back to lick their wounds and attack on another day." Harry explained, "He keeps saying he won't murder them so I told him he is as good as murdering the rest of us then."

"Harsh but necessary." Ginny agreed, "So what is your problem now?"

"I just told him to go kill people." Harry frowned, "How bad of a person does that make me?"

"He won't kill them. He will continue to try and capture them and then follow it up with a short stay in Azkaban until Voldemort gets them out again." She shrugged, "He's still playing by the ministry rules. I don't know what he'll do if the ministry ever falls."

"He'll die first." Harry shook his head, "He won't allow it to fall if he can stop it."

"You do realize that Malfoy had Fudge in his back pocket." She pointed out, "The ministry was as good as fallen already. I don't know how this new guy will be or if he's any different. We may be trading off one wastrel for another."

"So what do we do if we can't keep death eaters in Azkaban?" Harry asked.

"Make it so they can't leave." She shrugged.

"You are brilliant." Harry pulled Ginny in and kissed her before heading to the ground, "Come on we need to tell the others."

"Tell them what?" Ginny asked she was in a daze as she landed beside him and he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house.

"You're idea." He laughed.

"What idea." She was still confused but his laughter was becoming contagious.

"You want to what?" Sirius asked when the two of them reached the training room. He glanced at Ginny who just shrugged and then joined the others staring at Harry with shock on their faces.

"I want to make a new prison." He explained, "One they can't escape from and that Voldemort can't get to them."

"How do you propose to keep him out?" Remus asked bewildered.

"Keep its location a secret." Harry grinned.

"Wait, I'm just a bit slow on the uptake this time Harry." Neville scratched his head, "You want to make a new prison in secret and put the prisoners from this war into it."

"Yes." Harry nodded glad that someone understood.

"But it takes a long time to build something like that. And then who ever builds it will know and could give away the secret before they even start building." Sirius look confused.

"No not so much build it as use something existing and make it a prison." Harry said, "Make it so they can't leave."

"Where do you suppose we find this place?" Remus asked.

"I thought we could talk to the Goblins first." Harry explained more fully, "Honestly we should have the Goblins run it. They hate most wizards anyway. The dementors have abandoned Azkaban to follow Voldemort, but when the Goblins are paid to do something, they do it."

"That would certainly be a deterrent for criminals." Remus shrugged, "No one wants to get on the bad side of the Goblins."

"Why don't you just get the Goblins to run Azkaban?" Ron asked, "Put a Fidilious on it and we're good."

"We need a prison that does not belong to the ministry." Harry pointed out, "If the Ministry falls we lose everyone we just captured."

"Wait, you said when the Goblins are paid to do a job they do it. Who will be paying them if not the ministry?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't think of that. Any ideas?" he asked.

Ideas were tossed back and forth for a while before they resumed training with nothing set. The week passed as quiet as it could with six teenagers practicing magic with one adult who was more kid than adult. It was actually the twins that got the idea of what to do.

"Too bad you can't just sick Filch on them." They offered, "He's always wanted to hang people by their toes in the dungeons. He keeps his chains polished just in case Dumbles changes his mind.

"You know that's not a bad idea." Hermione stated thoughtfully, "It would also keep Dumbledore busy with them instead of us."

"He better put more than an age line and a lock that can be undone by first years." Harry grumbled.

"Perhaps we can make some suggestions." Athena interrupted, "We have a large variety of knowledge in this house, Rupert was an unspeakable, Lancelot was a ward master and we have at least three cursebreakers."

"You aren't even telling them about yourself my dear." Jameson jumped in, "She was a spell crafter and enchanting master. Between her knowledge and Lancelot's wards they created the portrait on the pitch. It was my birthday present one year; I wanted my father to be able to see us play quidditch on the pitch he'd made. He never lived to see it used."

"Add some Goblin wards on top of ours and you'll have an impressive prison." Rupert agreed.

"Would the Goblins agree to go to Hogwarts with Binns still teaching?" Athena asked.

"Would the governors let them?" Neville threw out the question.

"I don't know." Jameson shrugged, "Goblins can be rather… violent when faced with such prejudice."

"I guess we should talk to them first." Harry sighed, "Sirius do you want to come with me?"

"Better not." He shook his head, "It's not wise for a wizard to show up in disguise. I was forgiven once since I was just proving my innocence to them."

"Remus?" he turned to his surrogate uncle, "How about you?"

"Yes I can. I have no issue with the Goblins." He agreed.

"I'll go under my cloak until we get to the door." Harry sighed, "Then I can walk into the bank without any problem. Dumbledore did tell the Order we are alive didn't he?"

"Yes." Fred confirmed, "We need to go with you too. You have some papers to sign."

"On what?" Harry wondered what they needed him for.

"The Goblins would like to inform our financial backer of his responsibilities." George pulled at his collar in a self-important way. However his evil grin killed the effort.

"Right, let's go." Fred led the way through the floo to the flat above their store.

"Ready?" Harry asked as he pulled his invisibility cloak over his shoulders.

"Yes." Remus grinned at thin air that used to be Harry, "I always did like that cloak."

"Lead the way Moony." Harry laughed.

It took a few seconds for the twins to catch up and when they did they started the interrogation, "Did you say Moony?"

"I did." Harry answered from under his cloak.

"As in Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?" George asked.

"The very same." Harry replied then added for Remus' benefit, "The twins had the map and gave it to me third year."

Remus sighed and shook his head, "How did you find it? We lost it part way through seventh year. Well Peter lost it."

"Found it in Filch's office first year." Fred replied with a wide grin.

"It was in a cabinet marked highly dangerous." George added with an identical grin.

"So of course they had to take it and test it out." Harry added, "Prongs was my dad, Sirius is Padfoot and the rat was wormtail."

"What was your dad to be named Prongs?" Fred asked as the other three names were evident.

"A stag just like my patronus." Harry answered, "Wow, the shop looks great."

"This is only the beginning; we haven't really begun to decorate yet." George replied as they walked through the room.

"This is mostly just product shelves." Fred finished and opened the door and the four of them walked into Diagon Alley.

The bank wasn't far from the shop and they made the trip quickly without any problems. Harry removed his cloak by the door where he was hidden between Remus and the twins. Finally they made the last few steps into the bank and were met with total silence. Harry knew what this was about and he tried to ignore the crowd that stared at him. He walked across the room with his head held high and his back straight. They were met on the other side of the room by a very nicely dressed Goblin.

"Lord Potter how nice of you to grace our hallowed home." The Goblin bowed respectively.


	7. Chapter 7

Not really knowing what was going on Harry decided to wing it so he bowed back, "Thank you very much sir."

"Your account manager is waiting for you and has cleared his calendar so you should not feel rushed." The Goblin turned and led them all away from the lobby.

"I appreciate everything you have done for me." Harry grinned as he turned his back on the rest of the still completely silent room. The prophet had been absolutely blasting him for the last year but now it was touting him as a hero again. He wondered if the rest of the wizarding world was suffering from whiplash like he was.

The group followed the Goblin down the hall for a few moments before George asked, "Why did he call you Lord Potter?"

"Because he is." The goblin replied.

"When did this happen?" Harry asked.

"A few weeks ago. We have been trying to get in touch with you since then but you have been under very heavy wards." The goblin replied, "Here we are, Sharptooth will see you now." He opened the door but didn't follow them in.

"Welcome to Gringotts Lord Potter. I know you have not received our summons so we shall deal with your issues first." He acknowledged the group.

"Actually mine can wait." Harry said, "I'd rather know how I came to be Lord Potter and all that contains."

"You were emancipated about four weeks ago." He replied, "With that emancipation you gained your full inheritance. Surely you knew that you had requested emancipation."

"Not exactly." Harry looked rather sheepish, "I would tell you something but I need your promise that it is just between us."

"Absolutely." Sharptooth nodded, "We adhere strictly to client privilege."

"I died about four weeks ago and came back." Harry admitted, "Would that be enough to gain emancipation?"

"I suppose it might." Sharptooth agreed, "Magic could have seen that as an end to your innocence."

"What does it mean to me?" Harry asked.

"It means you are an adult. You do not have a trace on your wand and you can perform any magic at any time. You get the full inheritance from your parents including the title Lord Potter." Sharptooth replied, "You will be expected to fulfill all duties that are included in that title."

"Who can teach me what that means?" Harry asked.

"Sirius Black would probably be your best candidate for that." Sharptooth suggested then went on to explain, "We do need one more task completed before you'll be recognized by the ministry as Lord. You must perform an inheritance ritual to verify that you are indeed a Potter to receive the title and anything else you may qualify for."

"Ok, what do I do?" Harry asked hoping it wasn't too much.

"Just a few drops of blood from you." Sharptooth explained, "We can do the rest."

"When and where will it happen?" Remus asked.

"Here and right now." Sharptooth pulled out a ceremonial dagger, a bowl and a piece of parchment, "We've been prepared for weeks."

"Right then." Harry poked his finger and let the drops fall onto the parchment.

"This will take a few minutes to complete so why don't we cover the rest of your business. I suppose we need to first discuss your responsibilities to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." The goblin explained the responsibilities that he would have and then the twins left to return to the shop.

"Now what did you come in for?" Sharptooth inquired.

"Mine can wait if you want to proceed with yours." Harry offered.

"The next part is going to take a lot of time." He shook his head, "Please tell me what you want."

"Well, I want to find a place to keep prisoners of the war even if they Ministry falls." Harry explained, "I want a place to keep my prisoners out of the war until they can be tried by a court of their peers. I've been thinking of the possibility of using Hogwarts but I want to make sure escapees can't get to the students."

"While Hogwarts is a mighty fortress, it is not ready to house a prison and I wouldn't suggest it as one." Sharptooth shook his head.

"What about Gringotts?" he asked.

"I will forgive you that question since you grew up in the muggle world and don't know how offensive that was." Sharptooth frowned.

"I am sorry." Harry immediately apologized, "I didn't mean to offend."

"Apology accepted." Sharptooth nodded, "Gringotts is always neutral regardless the feelings of individual goblins."

"Are there goblins who don't work for Gringotts who would be willing to guard a prison for a price?" Harry asked.

"That is a much better question." Sharptooth grinned toothily, "Yes most assuredly there are. You will want to make sure they back you because even if gold is involved sometimes politics are stronger. I'll get you a list of names meanwhile you need to find a place."

"Far easier said than done." Harry sighed.

"Maybe not." Sharptooth grinned as he held up the paper that Harry had bled on.

Harry stumbled as he and Remus arrived back at Potter Manor. Remus helped him find a chair before calling for an elf to get him some tea. Tabitha appeared and handed over the tea along with a bottle of fire whiskey.

"Mistress says he may need something a bit stronger than tea." Tabitha answered the questioning look that Remus gave her.

The rest of the group was in the room when they arrived and were growing more concerned the longer it took Harry to recover. It was Ron who couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

"What happened?"

"He found out he's been emancipated." Remus started but didn't get very far in his explanation before he was interrupted.

"And that's enough to make him like this?" Sirius asked.

"No." Harry shook his head and moved his mouth to talk but nothing came out.

"Do you want me to explain?" Remus asked.

"Give me a minute." He said as he took the tea laced with firewhiskey and took a sip. After a few moments he tried to talk again but when he still couldn't decide what to say he motioned at Remus to take over.

"He has been emancipated and has found out he is now Lord Potter." He explained, "Sharptooth suggested that you can teach him." Pointing at Sirius, "He had to do the inheritance ritual since his parents aren't here. He found out more than he was prepared for."

"More that Lord Potter?" Sirius asked.

"Lot's." Harry polished off his tea and asked Tabitha to make him another just like it.

"Maybe you should take it easy on that tea." Hermione suggested as the elf poured firewhiskey into the second cup.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew." Harry took the cup and began sipping again.

"Well then tell us." Neville laughed.

"I believe he found out the family secret." Jameson grinned, "Athena's maiden name is Hufflepuff. She was the last of her line."

"So you are the heir to Hufflepuff?" Ron asked, "That's why you're upset."

"No." Harry shook his head and drank some more tea.

"My wife's maiden name was Gryffindor." Rupert added as he snickered, "Also the last of her line."

"Two founders?" Ginny asked.

"Three." He finally gasped out.

"Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

"No, Ravenclaw was the last of her line since her daughter died before she did and was childless." Remus grinned, "He defeated the last heir of Slytherin so he is also the heir to Slytherin by conquest."

"Well at least it's because you beat the pants off him." Ron shrugged, "It's not like you're actually blood related."

Hermione smacked the back of his head as Harry laughed at his friend, "Thanks Ron."

"So what does that all mean?" Ginny asked.

"It means Harry owns three quarters of Hogwarts. He could probably gain the last part if he talked with Helena Ravenclaw." Luna offered.

"But she's dead." Ron looked confused, "How can he talk to her?"

"She's dead, but she's not gone." Luna smiled dreamily.

"What does that mean?" Ron asked exasperated.

"It means she's a ghost." Harry sighed, "The Goblins told me to go talk to her. They also gave me this."

Harry pulled a golden cup out of his pocket and held it up. The rest of the group, minus Remus, moved to get a better look at it. Hermione was the first to recognize it.

"That's Hufflepuffs badger." She gasped.

"It's also a horcrux." Harry said before Dobby popped to his side with the sword in hand. He quickly stabbed the cup and handed the sword back to the elf who popped away, "And that is one less horcurx."

"How did they get that?" Sirius asked.

"Actually your cousin had it. However you made me your heir and I was alive for a few moments longer than you. For some reason the title Lord Black didn't revert back to you. I was able to gain take possession of her vault as her head of house since all the Lestranges are gone." Harry explained, "I would have Malfoy's too except Draco is still alive. That protects his mother's interests. By the way I put Andromeda back on the family tree."

"She'll be pleased." Sirius grinned, "I couldn't do it because I was a fugitive.

"Not any longer." Harry grinned, "At least not much longer. Sharptooth was able to get me a meeting with Madam Bones. As I am an adult now my testimony is valid for court cases. As a Lord I can call for justice for my house. I can force them to give you a trial. I don't know why you're not the Lord any longer."

"I'm very glad that I'm not Lord Black any longer so thank you." Sirius grinned, "I'd rather just be Sirius. I will add all that social training to your regimen for the rest of the summer."

"Lovely." Harry shuddered.

"So now you're Lord of five houses?" Neville asked with a grin, "I was worried when I just had one. I feel a lot better now."

"Not five. I am Lord Potter-Black-Gryffindor-Hufflepuff-Slytherin-Perevell-Emrys." Harry sat back in his chair, "That's why I'm drinking firewhiskey in my tea."

"I've not heard of Perevell." Hermione said, "But isn't Emrys Merlin's last name?"

"That's correct." Rupert agreed, "It's been a secret for a thousand years. But it's needed now."

"Perevell family went out pretty quickly." Jameson added, "When the last heir of theirs married a Potter it gave the Potter the title Lord. So technically there isn't a Lord Potter and Perevell or even all the others."

"The goblins didn't care." Harry answered, "They insisted on putting all the names on me."

"They also laid all the vaults on him." Remus grinned, "We won't have any trouble paying the goblins to ward a prison. He can also change the school and the governors won't give us any trouble either. They are only in place until the families of the founders are located. The letters informing them of their disbanding have already been posted. They do not include the identity of the family members who have been located."

"The only way they can take over again is if the founder's family gives up their rights to run the school." Harry grinned, "Which is not going to happen. We can finally get rid of Binns."

"Good riddance." Jameson cheered.

"I don't mean to be rude but why didn't any of you take up the responsibility of running the school?" Hermione asked.

"You have to have a majority of the founders." Athena smiled, "We had Gryffindor and Hufflepuff but had no idea where Slytherin was. Just because Ravenclaw had no living children didn't count her out. We couldn't take over the school without family from the three others."

"And even if we found Slytherin it wasn't likely that they would help us out." Rupert added, "They were notorious for disappearing when they were wanted for something."

"Tom has that part down." Harry huffed.

"But he's not dead." Hermione pointed out, "How could you get it by conquest if he wasn't killed."

"He lost his body." Remus explained what the goblins had told them, "He had no physical body so he had no need for physical riches. Not to mention that his father was a muggle so he wasn't the ideal heir anyway. Of the two Harry was a much better choice for the family so it switched."

"It can do that?" Hermione asked.

"Evidentially it can." Harry nodded.

It was in the middle of July that Ron asked the question that Remus and Sirius had been dreading, "When are we going to start fighting death eaters?"

"Can we just skip this part?" Sirius asked.

"No we need to do it." Harry patted his godfather on the shoulder, "We've been fighting them already so this is just a continuation of that. We are going to be joining the next time the order goes out on a call. You all need to be prepared to fight alongside the other Weasleys and possibly other people you may already know. We'll be going in our disguises so make sure you don't call anyone by name."

"How are we going to know that they're going out on some mission?" Ginny asked.

"We need to get out of the house and be in the areas when an attack happens." Harry explained, "It's not a perfect plan but we'll start patrolling two at a time. To keep us from being distracted we can't go with a girlfriend or boyfriend. I also don't want the boys to be together or the girls to be together. So I'll go with Luna, Neville with Hermione. Do you think you two can pay attention and not fight like siblings?"

"I guess." Ron shrugged, "But if anyone flirts with her in her disguise I'm going to take them out."

"If there is anything left after I'm through with them then have at it." Ginny grinned.

"No signature spells." Harry reminded Ginny, "I'll still disarm because everyone uses that in a battle situation. Bat bogey is a bit distinctive. So is puking slugs Ron and canaries Hermione."

"I could make them puke slugs though." Hermione grinned, "I get Ron's spell."

"I get Ginny's." Neville jumped in.

"That is so not fair." Ginny huffed but her grin gave away her pleasure at Neville wanting to copy her.

"When do we start?" Luna asked.

"This evening." Remus gave in, "They usually attack between late afternoon and midnight. I'll take one pair to Diagon Alley to patrol while Sirius goes with two others to a wizard area they haven't attacked in a while. With you all still under aged we need to stick to the wizard areas to hid your wand usage."

"Remember if Dumbledore asks you to join the Order you are to say no." Sirius reminded them, "We don't want them looking to closely. Tell him you're glad to help if you're in the area but you aren't interested in looking for trouble."

"We've got it." Ginny groaned, "I want to go out."

"Right then I'll take Ginny and Ron." Sirius said, "Who wants to stay in?"

"I've gone out recently so if you don't mind Luna we can let Hermione and Neville go." Harry suggested.

"It's fine with me." Luna agreed as she picked a book from the library.

Harry sat down at his desk after they left and began to make notes on the horcruxes. He made a list of those they had already found and began to ponder what the last pieces could be. His list included the book, his scar, the locket, ring and cup. That left two more to find as the last one would be the part in Voldemort. He realized that two of the objects were from founders so he addressed his grandmother.

"Athena, do you or anyone else happen to know of any items belonging to either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw?" he asked.

"You have Gryffindor's sword but I can't think of anything else he had." She pondered for a moment.

"Ravenclaw's diadem." Luna offered from her place on the couch, "It's a lovely piece you will find its likeness in any rendering of her. Of course it's not been seen since the time of the founders."

"Do you think Helena might know about it?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure she does but she hates it when people ask her for it. It brings back terrible memories of her death." Luna answered in her normal airy voice, "The Baron always catches the brunt of her temper when someone starts asking."

"Why?" Harry wondered at the social lives of ghosts but didn't discount Luna.

"Because he killed her." Luna finished.

"Will you be ok here on your own?" he asked as he got up from his desk, "Or do you want to come with me to Hogwarts?"

"I'll come along." She put her book back, "Athena would you be so kind as to let them know where we went and that we'll be back sooner or later."

"Of course my dear." She agreed.

"Have fun storming the castle." Jameson cheered as they left.

"Are we going disguised?" Luna asked as they approached the floo.

"No I thought it would be better to be invisible." Harry shrugged, "I want to miss all the teachers and Dumbledore is out so he won't be a problem looking through it."

"I wonder why he can see though it?" she asked.

"He had it for ten years. I'm sure he studied it thoroughly and probably developed a spell that allows him to see through it." Harry replied grabbing the floo powder, "It is possible he can only track it and always assumes it's me. I wonder if I can remove it without him knowing."

The two arrived in the Three Broomsticks and ducked under the cloak when they found the room empty. Harry took Luna's hand and pulled her along to an alley nor far. He then apparated them into the shrieking shack. They uncovered and he led the way through the tunnel and to the hole at the base of the whomping willow. Reaching out he found the knot then pulled the cloak back over himself and climbed out. He held the cloak out so Luna could climb out without being seen and they walked quickly to the castle. Harry pulled out the map and found no one near the entry so he opened the door just enough for the two of them to slip in.

"Where do you think would be the best place to look for Ms. Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.

"This way." She grabbed his hand and led him through the castle to Ravenclaw tower. She answered the question and let the two of them in, "Helena, are you here, it's Luna."


	8. Chapter 8

"Luna dear what are you doing here when school is out?" the ghost floated through the wall and near the fireplace.

"Harry wanted to talk to you." She smiled, "He's very nice and I'm sure you'll like him."

"Nice to meet you Ms. Ravenclaw." Harry gave her a half bow, "The goblins thought it would be best if I had a chat with you. I recently found out that I'm the heir of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. As the last Ravenclaw I would like your opinions before I make any decisions for the school. Would you consent to becoming an adviser for me?"

"I will consider it." She nodded her head once and turned away.

"May I ask you one more question?" Harry asked. She stopped and turned to him but didn't speak. He took that as a yes so he continued, "I am in the process of destroying all the horcruxes that Tom Riddle made. I have two left to find and I was wondering if you knew what became of the Diadem and if it is possible that he desecrated it like he did the Locket of Slytherin and the Cup of Hufflepuff."

"What did you do to the Locket and Cup?" she asked.

Harry pulled out each item and placed it on the table, "I removed the desecration but it disfigured them. I cannot keep that from happening."

"Do you have any idea how charming he could be?" she asked.

"Riddle could trick the stripes off a zebra." Harry chuckled then added, "He has deceived me too and it almost took my last family member. I'm doing everything in my power to stop him."

"He put it in the place where things are hidden. If you know where it is all you need to do is ask." She drifted off through the wall without another word."

"The Room of Requirement." Harry grinned. The two of them ran through the castle and reached the room fairly quickly. Harry paced and then opened the door and stopped, "I didn't think there would be this much junk in here. All I've ever seen was the DA training room."

"Well we know what it is and where it is, and I'm sure it's not going anywhere." Luna observed, "Perhaps we should get some help."

"I'm not sure we can sneak back into the castle with all of us." Harry leaned against the wall.

"We're allowed in when school starts." Luna pointed out, "We can search a lot then."

"That's a point." He conceded, "Let's look for a bit, stay close."

In the end the two returned without the diadem but with the knowledge of where it was and that it was a horcrux. They filled the others in when they all sat down for a late tea before bed. In turn the other four told about their evenings.

"Diagon Alley had no attack but it was nice to get out." Hermione shrugged and Neville nodded along.

"We ran across the Bill and Fleur going on a date." Ginny grinned, "Ron did a good job of not drooling."

"Shut up." Ron swatted at her, "When she said run across she means we literally ran into them. They walked out of a side alley right into me. Bill didn't recognize us at all. He just apologized and walked on."

"No fights so it was all good." Sirius slumped into his chair.

"Master Harry." Dobby popped into the room, "Mr. Dumby asked me to bring this letter to you. There be no enchantments."

"Thank you, please set it here." Harry indicated the table with his elbow, Tabitha had brought tea and he was fixing his cup.

"No enchantment." Sirius agreed quietly after the elf left.

"Why did you check?" Hermione asked, "I thought you trusted Dobby."

"I do but I don't trust Dumby not to try something." Sirius shrugged.

"Bad news?" Remus asked when Harry fell out of his chair when he started to read the letter.

"Ummm…. No." Harry reread the letter, "Sirius, the wizengamot has decided to finally give you a trial.

"That should be enough to clear him." Hermione huffed.

"This may be another ploy of Dumbledore's to get you out in the open." Ron suggested.

"I don't think so. I was already seen at the bank." Harry disagreed, "And he knows I can get the better of him if we have a verbal spar."

"Does he have any idea how powerful you are now?" Ginny asked.

"He has enough of an idea that he won't try dueling in front of anyone." Harry grinned, "And since I don't plan on being alone with him I don't think he'll have an opportunity to try."

"Then why is he doing this now?" Neville asked.

"If he can get Sirius cleared he can hire him as a DADA professor and entice Harry back to school." Luna pointed out, "He doesn't realize we plan on going back anyway."

"And we don't want another Umbridge." Harry agreed, "So Sirius, are you ready for your destiny?"

"My destiny? No, no, no you are the one with the destiny. I don't have one." Sirius insisted as he backed away from the crowd, "I just live along having fun."

"That's the old you." Harry advanced on his godfather, "The new you has a job to do. You know I'm right."

"It's not what he meant." Sirius whined as he continued to back away from Harry, "I was not meant to be a professor."

"What do you think you've been doing?" Harry asked grinning as his godfathers back hit the wall. He continued forward until he was in the man's personal space and changed his face to one of a pleading puppy, "Please, Siri, you'll be only the second DADA professor not out to kill me."

"No don't do that to me." Sirius looked around wildly for help; instead he met five other pleading faces.

"But Siri, you don't want us to suffer under someone else do you?" Ginny added.

Harry pulled his last card and hugged his godfather to himself, "But I'll miss you and worry about you if you aren't there. How can you keep an eye on me if you are here and I'm there? You promised Mum."

Sirius head dropped and he heaved a great breath, "Fine."

"Great." Harry gave one last tug of a hug and pulled away with a look of immense satisfaction, "Now we need to get to the Ministry by three and have an escape route in place just in case."

"Do we go as ourselves or disguised?" Hermione asked.

"We go in disguise. The trial is open to the public so that Sirius can come in without the fear of a dementor or auror attack. He'll be in disguise too but not as his current one. Don't want him traced back to our group when we go out to fight."

"Good idea." Remus agreed.

"Well Albus the audience is full where is Mr. Black?" Augusta Longbottom asked.

"I would suppose he is in disguise waiting to see what we'll do." he answered, "I would be if it were me. Would you trust us after spending twelve years in Azkaban without a trial and two years on the run with a dementors kiss promised to you?"

"I see. So what do we do?" another member asked.

"We start the trial and present any previous evidence we have received." Albus instructed, "Mr. Fudge you were one of the people who arrived in the alley he supposedly killed Peter Pettigrew in what do you have to say?"

"I was." Fudge stood from the gallery and approached the center of the room, "When the aurors and I arrived he was sitting on the ground mumbling about how it was his fault James and Lily were gone. Then he started laughing insanely. We took his words as an admission of guilt and Barty Crouch, who was also there, told the aurors to take him straight to Azkaban."

"Now for the new evidence." Albus motioned for Fudge to be seated, "Auror Shacklebolt?"

"Aurors have viewed the memory provided by Harry Potter. He submitted it to Amelia Bones three days ago." Kingsley explained, "In this memory there were three adults and three minors one being Mr. Potter. The three adults are one Remus Lupin, one Sirius Black and one Peter Pettigrew."

"But he's dead." Fudge yelled from the gallery, "All we found was a finger."

"The man in the memory was missing part of one finger." Kingsley agreed, "Both Lupin and Black addressed him as Pettigrew and he didn't dispute them. He admitted to being the secret keeper, blasting the street and killing the muggles and framing Black for all of it. He is also an illegal animagus rat. That was how he escaped. He cut off a finger and transformed into his rat and slipped away into the sewers."

"So he is innocent." Albus stated.

"But without his own testimony we have no idea what his true reasons for breaking out of Azkaban were." Another Wizengamot member argued

"It was because he was innocent." Someone from the crowd yelled.

"He needs to come forward and let us give him truth serum so we know he isn't trying to kill us all." He argued again.

A black dog trotted down from the gallery and into the middle of the room. He then stood up amongst a sea of gasps and became Sirius Black, "I'm willing to take the serum, always have been."

"Auror Shacklebolt please administer the serum." Albus smiled widely.

Three drops on his tongue later and the questions began. At the end of the trial Sirius was pronounced free. He had been sentenced to three years in Azkaban for being an illegal animagus but seeing as how he had already spent twelve there they declared the sentence fulfilled. Before he could leave he was corralled by Albus to go to the animagus registry office. During the walk he asked the question the others knew he would.

"Sirius I need a DADA professor and I want you." He declared.

"Yes ok fine." Sirius replied with little enthusiasm.

"You'll be able to keep a close eye on Harry." Ablus wasn't listening and kept up his argument to get Sirius.

"I'll do it." Sirius added with a bit more effort.

"I'll let Remus help you and live in the castle he only needs to leave on full moons." Albus continued.

"I'll think about it." Sirius grinned.

"I'll even let you take off the day after the full moon so you can spend the nights with Remus like you used to do." Albus finished his offer.

"It's a tempting offer." Sirius laughed, "I want to ride the express to school on the first."

"I will see what I can do." Albus nodded.

Sirius nodded deciding not to tell Albus he had already been talked into it. Harry was going to get a kick out of this, "I suppose you have me then, there is no way I can say no to all that."

"Excellent." Albus sighed a breath of relief.

Sirius glanced over his shoulder before entering the registry office to see Harry not far behind. He knew his Godson would be following to make sure he was alright. A few moments after Albus closed the door and began talking to one tester a disguised Harry entered and began talking to another. He managed to end his conversation just a moment or two before Sirius was handed his copy of the registration of his animagus form. Harry was half way down the hall when Sirius left the office. He noticed the others scattered around the halls as he walked with Albus back to the Atrium.

"Sirius I need you to come to the school and get your class material." Albus informed him.

"I will after I make a stop by home." He waved him off, "The others are anxious to know the outcome."

"Of course." He nodded, "Stop by later then."

Back at Harry's house the group desolved into giggles as Sirius related his conversation with Albus. Harry was laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. Remus was sitting beside Harry and was laughing as much at Harry leaning on him laughing as he was about the story Sirius was telling. Before Sirius left to get his class material Harry gave him some warnings.

"Don't floo directly back here. Go to the Leaky and get a room then check over all the materials for portkeys, tracking spells and anything else you can think of." Harry instructed, "I'm also going to send Dobby with you but he'll stay invisible at Hogwarts."

"You still think he'll try something even after that verbal thrashing you gave him not long ago?" Sirius asked.

"He only promised to stay out of my way on the horcrux hunt." Harry pointed out, "I asked him to quit trying to manipulate me but I don't want to be caught unaware when he fails to stop."

"Right." Sirius nodded in agreement, "When not if."

"Exactly." Harry agreed.

When Sirius returned several hours later he was grinning, "Harry you have the board and all the teachers in an uproar. They received their notices about three of the founder's heirs being found. They're about to go spare."

"Have they received the missive from the heirs?" he asked with a grin.

"Albus got his just before I left." Sirius grinned, "He sent an announcement to the paper as I was leaving. Binns should be replaced soon."

"Well done Harry." Jameson cheered from his portrait, "I'm glad we finally got that accomplished."

"What are you going to do if Binns doesn't want to quit teaching?" Ginny asked.

"Move the class." Harry shrugged, "There are plenty of empty classrooms available."

"That's a good idea." Hermione nodded, "Did you put that in your letter?"

Harry nodded having just taken a drink of tea. He cleared his mouth and added, "I also told him to move the DADA room and see if that doesn't break the spell on that position. Lastly I told them if Snape doesn't straighten up and teach he'll be out too. His place as a spy doesn't excuse his poor behavior."

"What about Hagrid?" Hermione asked, "He really isn't a very good teacher."

"I suggested Albus sit down with him and help him make age appropriate lesson plans." Harry disagreed with her, "He was good at explaining the material. It was just the subject matter that was too dangerous for third years. I suggested he teach the NEWT level class about hippogryffs and any cross breeds he wants to do and move the thestrals to third year since they are such peaceful creatures."

"Ok, I'll give you that he did explain well." She gave in, "I think that would probably fix his class quite well."

"Harry, I need to go visit with my Grandmother." Neville declared a few days later.

"Will she let you come back?" he asked.

"She has to." He shrugged, "I think it's best if I visit her now and again instead of just sending a letter. She'll feel better about it all."

"I can have Dobby take you and bring you back if you want." He suggested.

"Ok, thanks." He sighed glad that his request wasn't denied.

"Does anyone else want to go?" Harry asked.

"Daddy is away on safari." Luna shook her head, "I told him to go without me because this is more important."

"If mum sees us she'll tie us to our beds and won't let us out of her sight again." Ginny shrugged, "Letters are fine for now."

Ron nodded and turned to see Hermione looking troubled, "Hermione if you want to visit them for a while none of us will look down on you for it."

"It's not that." She grimaced, "It's the excuse I gave them for not coming home. They think I got a scholarship to Beauxbatons for a special summer course on Ancient Runes. I've never told them about Moldysnort."

Harry burst out laughing along with Sirius and Remus. It was the first time any of the others had used their new name for him in front of the three of them. It took several minutes before Harry was able to ask, "When did you come up with that name for him?"

"It wasn't me." Hermione denied, "It was Jameson. Your dad had mentioned their group and when we were telling your story he couldn't remember his name and Moldysnort was one of his guesses at what his name is."

"We decided he didn't need any form of respect from us so that's what we decided to call him." Ginny grinned at the three of them as they were still trying to get their laughter under control, "His other two tries were Soldymort and Voldesnot."

Their laughter erupted again and it took even longer before they could control it. Sirius was barely standing and had his hands on his knees trying to keep himself upright. Harry had given up and was lying on the floor with tears running from his eyes. Remus was the most dignified, as usual, but even he was leaning on the wall.

It took a good while before Remus was able to bring back up the previous subject, "Why didn't you tell them about the war?"

"They would have kept me at home." She huffed, "I need to finish school so I'll be able to protect myself and them. They would freak out if they knew half of what I get up to."

"You probably need to tell them the truth." Harry grimaced.

"I know, it's just how do I tell them?" she asked, "I can't just say, hey mum, da, I've been lying to you for the last few years. See the wizarding world is about to go to war and I don't want to miss it."

"Maybe wait until it's over before you tell them that." Ron snickered, "Maybe start by saying I had to stay and help Harry and his mass murderer of a godfather come back from the dead."

"You did have to use advanced runes for that." Ginny snickered along with Ron.

"You two are no help." Hermione huffed but both could tell she was hard press not to smile.

"Master Harry, yous being having a letter from Professor Dumby." Dobby stated as he appeared in the room with the group.

"Thank you Dobby." Harry took the letter, "Would you mind taking Neville to visit his Grandmother and bringing him back when he is done please?"

"I can do that Master Harry." Dobby bobbed his head, "When do we go?"

"Neville?" Harry asked.

"Let me go get a few things and I'll be ready." He took off for his room.

Harry opened the letter from the headmaster and frowned at it. Neville was back in the room before he spoke about it, "Dumbledore is asking how we are expecting to receive our OWL results if no delivery owls can make it through the wards. He wants us to go live at the burrow for the rest of the summer."

"When do the results come out?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Same time as the Hogwarts letters." Remus explained.

"We can't go to the burrow or mum will stick us to the walls to keep us there." Ron frowned, "Is there somewhere else we can spend some time and receive the letters?"

"We still have a little time to think about it." Harry stated, "The letters won't come out for a few weeks or so. We'll figure out something by then. Who is going to patrol tonight?"

"I should be back by then." Neville shrugged, "But if not then maybe Hermione can join your group."

"Take your time." He waved his friend off, "Luna and I will take her."


	9. Chapter 9

Later that evening Harry and the two girls were walking through Diagon Alley quietly talking. Several pops were heard down the alley and they quickly realized they were going to be facing death eaters again. They ran down the alley until they were within range of the group and began to fire spells at them. Remus, who was with them in the alley, sent his patronus off to get reinforcements.

They were still engaged in the battle when the Order and the Aurors arrived. What had once been four on twenty was now fifteen each and in a matter of seconds the last death eater fell. Harry turned and shook Remus' hand before he started to walk away followed by the two girls.

"Hold up there friend." Albus called.

Harry sighed looking at his two friends before the three of them turned, "Do you mean us?"

"Yes, I understand you joined to help Remus hold the street until the rest of us could arrive." He smiled congenially.

"Actually I joined them." Remus tried to hide his grin, "They started fighting while I called for reinforcements."

"Do you fight death eaters very often?" he asked.

"Do you mean this group?" He pointed to the fallen death eaters and when Albus nodded he replied, "No, this is the first time we've been attacked. We believe in self-defense."

"I'm Albus Dumbledore leader of the Order of the Phoenix, may I ask who you are?" he queried.

"I am Porter Gryffin, these two fine ladies are my friends, Star Herald and Jean Wilkins." He supplied the introductions.

"Lovely to meet you both." Albus kissed their hands, "I can't help but wonder where you are from, I've not heard your last names before."

"Australia." Harry supplied, "We've move here recently."

"The three of you?" he asked.

"Six." He supplied.

"Ah." Albus nodded, "I see. I wonder if you would be interested in joining my group. The Order of the Phoenix is a group of talented individuals that are making a stand against a dark wizard we are having trouble with. This group is some of his followers."

"I'm not interested in joining law enforcement." Harry demurred.

"We aren't law enforcement; those aurors in uniform are law enforcement." He commented, "We are more of a free-lance group."

"Vigilantes then." Harry nodded, "No I don't think we're really interested in joining your Order. But we'd be happy to lend a hand again if we happen to be in the area when they attack."

"Are you speaking for these lovely ladies too or could I entice them to join?" he asked.

"Porter speaks for us as well." Both Hermione and Luna nodded.

"Well that is too bad." He sighed.

"We must get going now." Harry started to back away, "We have other things to do today."

"We have a healer here would you like to be checked over?" Albus offered.

Harry looked to the two girls. Luna answered this time, "I wasn't hit."

"Me either." Hermione added.

"Then we are fine." Harry nodded back at Albus, "Thank you for the offer."

Harry pulled out their portkey and the girls touched it and they were all whisked away. When Remus arrived home some time later he was grinning widely. The whole group sat down to discuss the evening. Neville arrived just before they started. Tabitha brought them tea then they began.

"Quiet evening, nothing to note." Ron offered.

"Ours was pretty quiet." Harry offered back, "Right up till the end at any rate."

"What happened?" Ginny asked.

"About twenty or so death eaters attacked in the Alley." Hermione answered.

"The Order and Aurors arrived after we had downed a few of them." Luna added, "It was over pretty quick."

"Twenty to four." Ron frowned, "Those are pretty bad odds."

"True but we just had to send a spell in their general area." Harry grinned, "They were too packed in to move much."

"How many did you catch?" Ginny asked.

"The aurors arrested all of them." Luna answered.

"Really?" Sirius butted in this time, "Well done."

"We knocked five or so out by the time backup arrived." He explained, "When they arrived the odds were evened out a bit so we ended it quickly. No one was left to portkey them all away."

"Then Albus tried to get them to join the Order but Harry turned him down and they left." Remus finished off the story.

"Next time we get to go to the Alley." Ron frowned slightly.

"You've had your share of battles." Hermione pointed out.

"Yea but it's been one or two against two." He complained, "Nothing like five to one that you have gotten."

"It wasn't fun." Luna added.

"No but it was good practice." He explained, "I'm not really complaining. I just…"

"Don't worry about it." Harry cut him off, "I understand. We probably won't get another chance at the Alley though. We need to start thinking about going somewhere and receive our letters."

"Neville you're back." Luna interrupted the conversation.

"I think I know where we can all go to receive our letters." He grinned.

"Where?" Remus was the first to ask.

"Well let me tell you what happened." Neville launched into his tale.

*** at Longbottom Manor***

"It's been so lovely visiting with you Neville, won't you stay for dinner?" Augusta asked her grandson.

"I really need to get back to the others." He grimaced.

"What are you all doing there?" she asked, "I know at first you thought Harry was dead and then he wasn't. I'm just so confused."

"You have to promise not to tell anyone else." Neville told her.

"I promise on my magic not to tell anyone until you tell me to." She offered.

"Thanks. Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black, and Professor Lupin are training us to fight. We know Harry is supposed to kill Voldemort but no one has ever seen fit to train him to do it." Neville sighed in exasperation, "He has taken it upon himself to learn and he gave those two the option to help. As his friends we are also learning for two reasons. One with training it's less likely we'll get taken and held hostage to get him to give himself up. Second we can motivate him and each other. We just want to survive this war and we aren't getting the information to do that at school."

"Go wash up for dinner, I want to hear more about this." She instructed.

Neville sighed and did as he was told knowing that Hermione would be with Harry and Luna in the Alley soon enough. He washed his hands as he lamented his loss of training and patrol time but knew his Grandmother would feel better after they had talked about it all. He was on his way back from the bathroom when he heard Dumbledore's voice. He was ready to turn and run to the floo when his Grandmother started to respond.

"Why should I make him come home?" She demanded, "Give me one good reason."

"They must return to school. You know they need their education." Dumbledore explained.

"That doesn't explain why you want them home right now." She argued, "They are evidentially safe from Death Eaters if you cannot even find them."

"Surely you understand the Weasley's are missing their children terribly." He replied.

"Then why aren't they here asking for my help." She inquired.

"They are very busy." Albus explained.

"And you aren't?" she smirked, "I am quite fine knowing that Neville is helping Harry Potter where ever the two of them may be. He has communicated to me that he is set on helping Harry and I won't interfere. I think you should stop interfering too."

"They won't know what to buy if they aren't available for owls. The school owls are going out in a week." He finally started to lose his temper, "They must return to school."

"I am sure they will." She stated, "And if they don't then I will be discussing it with my Grandson and you will not be involved. My Neville has a good head on his shoulders and I trust him. I miss seeing him dearly but I understand he feels this is necessary. As for receiving their mail I hardly think they'll be at a total loss if they buy their books via owl. I can certainly purchase six sets of whatever Neville needs just to help them out. Maybe instead of harassing them you should try to help them by doing what you can in the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards, you are back on both by now correct?"

"Augusta…" he started.

"Why don't you find an alternative route to get them their lists?" she suggested, "Now I am a busy woman so you may go find someone else to listen to you prattle on."

*** back at Potter Manor ***

"I waited until the floo sounded and then went and gave Gran a big hug and we chatted about our training and stuff all through dinner." Neville grinned, "Then she said to tell you if you want to come to the manor so you can receive your owls she won't tell Dumbledore a thing. She is quite put out with him. She never did tell me what he said before I reached the hall outside though."

"Will it be ok if we just all show up later?" Harry asked, "I don't want to tip anyone off on our whereabouts."

"It will be fine, I already warned her." He nodded.

"I think I've found a place for our prison." Harry grinned and changed the subject, "I was looking through my inheritance stuff and found out that Gryffindor had a manor not far from Godrics Hollow. It was his home and fortress and it is reputed to have cells underground."

"Guards?" Hermione asked.

"Goblins." Harry grinned, "My account manager said he can get me some that hate Voldemort worse than me. All that is left to do is inspect the manor and make sure I can get everyone in."

"A small task for tomorrow then." Ron grinned.

Harry, under his cloak, arrived in the small village of Godric's Hollow with Sirius at his side. The two walked through the small village and up to the church that was beside the grave yard. They saw Remus waiting by the markers and headed his way. A small bouquet of Lilies appeared on the ground between the two men, Harry wanted to leave a token even if it was safer that he wasn't seen. After a while the group left the gravesite. Remus headed back to Potter Manor while Sirius and Harry headed for the Gryffindor Manor. As they walked along a road Sirius stopped and stared at a dilapidated building.

From under the cloak Harry asked, "Is that it?"

"Yes." Sirius whispered in reply, "We can come back when its safer."

"We will." Harry bumped him lightly signaling it was time to go.

Sirius took a deep breath and they turned and walked on down the street. They waited until they were well out of town before they apparated. The place they arrived at was surprisingly still in good shape. Well it was surprising until they found the group of house elves that were still taking care of the place.

"What is it that the Lord wishes?" the small elf asked.

"What is your name?" Harry asked.

"Bentley sir." He replied regally.

"How many elves are here?" Harry asked.

"Seventy elves at present." Bentley answered succinctly.

"That's a lot more than I was expecting." Harry scratched his head, "I thought there were only three."

"Originally there were." The elf nodded, "New elves came for a home and procreation happens."

"How did new elves find you?" Harry asked.

"Elf loose old home and come to find a new one." Bentley answered, "Never turn away someone in need. Humans get help then we help them leave, elves can stay if they want."

"What about bad people?" Harry asked.

"Dungeon is in good working order, ready for the Lord's enemies." Bentley nodded, "But Dirkley can tell you more about them."

"Welcome Lord." A new elf bowed low, "You got baddies for the chambers?"

"Can you show me the chambers?" Harry asked.

"Take my hand sir." Dirkley held out a hand and both men touched him and were popped away.

"Wow." Sirius was looking around an old stone dungeon with rows of cells on each side, "I counted twenty cells."

"That's in this row. There are more rows." Dirkley offered, "Follow Dirkley."

They walked down to the end of the row and turned a corner. Down one side was another, longer, row of cells and on the other was a wall with breaks for more rows of cells like the first ones they had seen. Harry stood and just stared for a moment before he could talk.

"Are all the other rows the same length as the first one we were in?" he asked.

"Yes sir." Dirkly answered.

"How many elves work down here?" Harry continued to question the elf while Sirius walked down the lead hall counting rows of cells.

"Just me for now." He replied, "If we get prisoners I can get more. But they will only be needed to take care of the food and cleaning. Only I can transport prisoners in and out and only from that spot we came in on, only Gryffindor elves allowed down here. They can pop in anywhere and if someone tries to tag along or hurt one of them they get a nasty surprise."

"I counted fifteen rows that's three hundred cells." Sirius returned, "Gryffindor must have had a lot of enemies."

"His friends had people down here too." Dirkley offered, "Many magical men didn't like them teaching girls. Sometimes they attacked the Masters other times they attacked the students. All of them ended up here. Some went home eventually, others did not."

"Are there wards and things to keep them down here?" Harry asked.

"No wands or magical devices of any sort are allowed on prisoners, I check each person for tracking spells and put them in their new clothes." Dirkley replied, "No animals made down here either."

"And the only way out is with you." Harry nodded liking this set up, "Do you need any help to watch prisoners and make sure they behave?"

"No I can do it." Dirkley stood proudly, "If anyone gets too bad they go to sleep."

"Ok, we'll probably be bringing some in soon." Harry nodded as they walked back to the entry point.

"I am ready Lord sir." Dirkley nodded.

Harry was grinning broadly when he returned to Potter Manor. It was crazy enough looking that several of the group backed away. Remus was the only one willing to question him, "So… how did it go?"

"Great." Sirius answered for him, "It's everything we could want. Even has a guard so we don't need to hire the goblins. However Harry is still thinking about bringing a few in just to scare the bejeebees out of them."

"He's already scaring them out of me." Ron offered, "What has him smiling so big?"

"He can't wait until we catch someone and they try to escape." Sirius sighed, "Dirkley said they get a nasty surprise and he wants to know what it is. He's imagining all sorts of things."

"Who has patrol tonight?" Harry turned from his pondering.

"We do." Luna answered from her place on the couch. She had been reading when they arrived and she hadn't put the book down yet.

"Oh, good maybe we can get someone tonight." He sat back and grinned, "When the rest of you go, try and get a prisoner or two if you can. So that means no more calling for the Order or Aurors unless we're terribly outnumbered. We'll meet at Gryffindor Manor after patrol."

"I'll come back and get you two when were ready to go." Sirius indicated Hermione and Neville, "Don't want you to miss the fun."

There were no attacks that night. Nevertheless they had all gone to see the manor. They had taken to meeting at the manor after every patrol. The house elves were thrilled that every evening they had people to feed. It took several nights of patrol before anyone was attacked. Ron and Ginny had been in Diagon Alley with Remus when ten Death Eaters had popped in. They had taken them out but they also had their first major injury.

Ron was cussing up a storm as they landed in the entryway of Gryffindor Manor. The other four ran out to them as a series of pops echoed in the hall. Dirkley was there and began to look over the prisoners. Two new elves approached Ron.

"You need to hold still so we can heal you." One said, "I'm Nanee and this is my daughter Banee."

"You can fix his leg?" Ginny asked, "It wasn't a bone breaking spell so our tries at healing him didn't work."

"No you couldn't do it." Nanee waved her off, "It was a dark spell and needs special healing."

She waved her hand and the bone began to slowly move back into place. Banee put Ron to sleep at his first hiss of pain. They watched in horrified fascination as the bone continued to move back into place and the all the cartilage, muscle and skin very slowly returned to normal.

"Wow." Harry shook himself, "He'll be ok now?"

"Yes sir." Nanee replied.

"Good." He turned to Dirkley and asked, "What do you need?"

"I need to take them all to the dungeon and sort them out." Dirkley told him, "I thought you might want to watch."

"Oh, me too." Sirius raised his hand and jumped up and down.

"Ok, Dogfather too." Dirkley smirked and held out a hand so they were all whisked away.

Once they were away from the others Dirkley snapped his fingers and all the clothes of the first person were off and dropped in a pile off to the side. He ran his hand over the man and flicked him on the shoulder before waving his hand and the man was dressed in a pink robe and moved out of the way.

"Why did you flick him on the shoulder?" Harry asked.

"He had a tracking spell there." Dirkley replied as he went to the next prisoner. In a matter of a few moments each prisoner was dressed in pink robes and tossed in a cell.

"Ok, I've got to ask, why pink robes?" Sirius broke down and asked the question that had been bugging him from the beginning.

"Degrading." Dirkley shrugged, "Old Lord hated pink because he had red hair like new Lord's friend. Would you rather have a different color?"

"No pink is great." Harry grinned, "Unless we get a girl prisoner then we need something else."

"We may get girl prisoners?" Dirkley asked shocked.

"Yes girls learn magic just like boys do and sometimes they make the decision to do the wrong thing." Harry didn't know what else to say.

Dirkley scratched his head before he began going through the clothes, "Old elf never said he had girls here before."


	10. Chapter 10

The elf made a small pile of wands and then one for other objects. Then he placed the wand and robes of each wizard in box and numbered it. The numbers coincided with their cell number. He then put all the other objects into a bag and handed it to Harry before popping them and the boxes up to the main hall.

"Boxes go into storage and you get to decide what happens with the objects." Dirkley popped away with the boxes.

Remus took the sack and dumbed it out on the desk of the study they like to spend time in. He cast a silencing spell and went over each item moving them around with a quill. After half an hour he dropped the spell.

"Portkeys." He waved at the group of them, "Maybe I should give one to Kingsley and tell him I was attacked and one of them dropped it."

"So who did we catch?" Ron asked.

"Flint was the only one I recognized." Harry shrugged.

"I think some of those spells were in a different language." Ginny offered.

"Foreign wizards?" Sirius asked turning to Remus, "I don't think he had foreign ones before did he?"

"I don't know, I was with the werewolves." He shrugged in reply.

"There are probably seventy death eaters that were arrested by the ministry." Hermione pointed out, "He may be getting desperate."

"We'll know he's desperate when he gets them out of Azkaban again." Harry told them, "In the mean time we need to get as many as we can into our prison. I wish we could get a few of the inner circle."

"Actually we killed all of them." Luna stated airily, "I think the next group should be called the outer circle."

"I like it." Harry laughed, "So who is in the outer circle?"

"Yaxley, Rowle, the Carrows, Greyback, Goyle, Nott and last and certainly least, Pettigrew." Sirius reeled off the names, "I really, really want to get Pettigrew into those cells."

The rest of the month of July was quite exciting for the group. They got into several more skirmishes and had more prisoners. Their best catch so far was Nott who had escaped them at the Ministry. By the time they got to the end of the month they were ready to go to Longbottom Manor for a week of rest.

"It is so good to meet you Lord Potter." Augusta gripped his hand warmly.

"Thank you, it is lovely to meet you Madam Longbottom." He replied and brought her hand up to be kissed.

She smiled at him before greeting the rest and moving on to address just the Weasley's, "I've spoken with your mother. I'm sure Neville told you about the old coot stopping by. Your parents were not happy to hear it. They have told him that as long as you were helping Harry that you needed to do what you needed to do."

"Reallly?" Ron looked skeptical, "I'm rather surprised."

"She said they had a chat with the twins and they enlightened them on a few things." She waved her hand indicating she didn't understand what they had chatted about, "If you would like they wish to come and visit if you happened to stop by."

"Can we?" Ginny asked looking at Harry.

"I don't see why not." He answered Ron's dubious look and Ginny's anxious one, "I do suggest we wait until we have our OWL results and school letters."

"You will be receiving them tomorrow." Augusta stated with a nod, "That way if Dumbledore put them up to this then we can get you back to your safe house before he is any wiser."

"Thank you Madam." Harry nodded at her.

"Think nothing of it." She waved him off, "I was rather expecting two more people."

"Sirius will join us tomorrow and Remus will be back the day after." Neville explained, "He needs time to heal."

"Well then I guess we should get you all settled." She clapped her hands, "Neville said three boys in his room and three girls in another would work well for you all."

"That would be great." Hermione smiled and followed the woman up the stairs. Luna and Ginny weren't far behind.

The boys followed Neville and found three beds in his room. Once they were settled they returned to the parlor to sit and talk with the girls and Madam Longbottom. It was late in the evening before the group left for bed. The next morning Hermione was up bright and early waiting for the mail. Madam Longbottom was sitting at the table sipping tea when she arrived. They sat and chatted for a while before Augusta looked at her watch.

"Neville wins." She shook her head, "He said not only would you be up first you would be the others by an hour at least."

"He's heard the rumors from Ron and Harry." She smiled, "Who did you think would be first?"

"Neville." She returned the smile, "He is quite excited about his herbology grade. I wish he'd be more worried about some of the others. Defense and transfiguration should be first."

"I don't know how he'll do on the test but I can tell you he has improved in both of those classes over the summer." She offered, "Herbology is important though. Without herbologists where would potions be?"

"That is all well and good but he wants to be an auror." She huffed.

"I think you're mixing your dreams for him up with his dreams for himself." Hermione knew he had always had this problem with his gran, "He wants to be a herbologist. He dreams of finding a cure for his parents, or at least being a part of it somehow."

"I don't think you know him that well." She argued, "We've discussed this many times."

"No you've told me what I'm going to do." Neville entered the kitchen, "I want to be a herbologist. I am not going to be an auror. I am not my dad."

"But Neville…" she started.

"Please don't Gran." He sighed, "The owls are here."

"Oh." Hermione exclaimed and jumped up and ran to the window. A flock of owls entered the house and Hermione and Neville unloaded them of their burdens. Hermione left the kitchen without opening hers and went to wake the others. While she was gone Neville opened his OWL results leaving his Hogwarts letter for last.

"Well?" Augusta asked.

"I have and O in Herbology, E's in Transfiguration, Defense, Charms, History, Astronomy, A's in everything else but potions. I got a P in that." He announce rather proud of himself.

Before Augusta could comment the others entered and all complemented Neville on his fine marks. The scores were soon opened and shared all around. They settled on a time for shopping that morning and decided that meeting the Weasley's after tea would be a good idea. They returned to Potter Manor to put on their disguises and met up with Sirius. Soon they were at Diagon Alley and purchasing all their needs. They were nearly ready to go when a series of pops indicated a raid.

"Tabitha." Harry called as they huddled in a store.

She popped in and they gave her all the bags to take back. Within a few moments they were out the door and fighting Death Eaters. It was a furious fight with terrible odds for the six teens and one adult, but against those odds they were still fighting several minutes later and wondering where the Aurors were.

"Finally." Ron muttered when they arrived.

"Harry grinned at him, "We need to go Dumbledore just arrived."

The group returned to Longbottom Manor and collapsed into chairs. They had stopped at Harry's house just long enough to remove their disguises and heal any injuries. Augusta entered the room a few moments later.

"Exhausted from shopping?" she asked.

"Yes." Harry answered.

Neville explained a little more, "Death eaters popped up too."

"Did you get finished before they arrived?" she asked.

"Yes." He answered.

"Did you fight them?" she asked.

"We will not answer that question." Harry spoke first, "That way you don't have to lie if anyone asks."

"Good enough." She nodded, "Any injuries."

"None of us are injured." Luna stated airily.

"Sirius will be by in time for tea." Harry added in.

Tea time was an interesting adventure. Sirius arrived ten minutes before time and the Weasleys arrived shortly after. It was a tense few minutes as Molly handed out hugs. However she never told them they were going straight home. When they all settled down Arthur was the first to address the group.

"We are glad you two survived your… adventure." He offered.

"As are we." Sirius inclined his head.

"Sirius I hope you aren't putting them into any danger." Molly scolded.

"Have you looked at the clock lately Mum?" Ginny asked, "It does still read mortal peril does it not?"

"We are being as safe as we can be." Harry interrupted the argument before it could start, "We are not putting ourselves in needless danger."

"Good." She paused before continuing, "We need to get to Diagon Alley and get your school things."

"Already done." Ron informed her.

"But how did you pay for your things?" she asked.

"I paid for them and you will not be paying me back." Harry stated with finality before anyone could argue.

"But you need to save your money for…" she started.

"Actually he doesn't need to save anything." Sirius interrupted, "Lord Potter is sitting very well."

"That's all fine but he is not Lord Potter yet." She argued.

"He is." August interrupted, "Gringotts informed the Wizengamot yesterday. Dumbledore is holding the information for now but once school starts it will be out of his hands."

"Sirius you shouldn't have done it." Molly turned her scolding back on him.

"It's not your place to decide." Sirius stated, "Besides I didn't do it. Our adventure caused it."

"Congratulations Harry." Arthur said before anymore arguments broke out, "I think your parents would be proud of all you have done."

"They are." Harry grinned, "And I am to pass on a thank you to both of you for being stand ins when they could not be here themselves."

Molly was on the edge of tears and unable to speak so Arthur was able to continue, "You are very welcome. I've spoken to Dumbledore and the twins separately but multiple times. Dumbledore is saying you've changed a lot but the twins say hardly at all. Which would you say?"

"In some ways there are a lot of changes but in others there are few." Harry grinned, "My personality is basically the same but how I deal with authority has changed immensely. Since I have information from a higher source than Dumbledore I've had to make him understand that I know what is going on and I can handle it. He isn't very happy with me."

"Can you handle it?" Molly asked.

"We already have handled several things." Harry answered, "We are well on our way to destroying Voldemort."

"He told me about a prophecy." Arthur interrupted Molly before she could begin, "He didn't say it word for word but he says you'll be the one to defeat him."

"Basically it says the one to defeat him was to be born at the end of July that year to parents who had defied him three times." Harry gave the condensed version.

"That could be Neville too." Augusta interrupted.

"Except the next line." Neville explained, "It says he will mark him as his equal. Harry got a scar, I didn't."

"Then it says I'll defeat him with the power he knows not." Harry added, "Dumbledore thinks that's love. I guess he thinks I'm going to hug him to death or something. But I know the power he doesn't know about. It's the power of friendship. He doesn't have friends and I have plenty that are willing to help me. Call that love if you want to but I know he loves his snake so that can't be the power he doesn't know about. He has only followers; he has never had a friend."

"That information comes from a higher source." Sirius added, "One that is never wrong."

Arthur nodded and changed subjects, "Did you hear they've found three of the founders heirs?"

"We did hear that." Ron grinned at his Dad, "Have any changes been made yet?"

"The Board of Governors is trying to fight the changes." Arthur added, "They said Binns has been teaching for centuries and they see no reason to change it now, its tradition."

"Its tradition to lose information like how the house elves became dedicated servants to wizards?" Hermione asked, "Or how about once Harry defeats Voldemort, is that worth learning about? We are losing so much and there is no way a muggleborn can get to the information. It's trapped in portraits that are lock up in pureblood manors. And I'm sorry but those selfsame purebloods only let out information that has benefit to themselves not everyone. I know not all purebloods are that way but the ones with the most information are."

"Or they are lost as mine have been for years." Harry stated.

After the Weasleys left August approached Hermione, "Do you know how the house elves became our servants?"

"Yes, one of the portraits at Harry's house told us." She responded.

"Would you tell me?" she asked. Hermione could see the excitement in her eyes when she requested and after making sure with Harry she passed the story on.

The month of August went smoothly. Every week they would meet the Weasleys for tea at Longbottom Manor and they would chat and keep up with the news from each other. No one ever discussed what the teens were doing to prepare Harry to face Voldemort. By unspoken agreement they just didn't bring it up. Dumbledore stopped by every once in a while and the one time they were there when he showed up they just hid in the bedrooms. More prisoners were added to the cells under Gryffindor Manor although Nott remained the only one of the outer circle.

On August thirty first Sirius sat the group down for a chat, "I think we should disguise you all for the trip."

"Why?" Augusta asked.

"The platform is wide open to anyone." He informed her, "I don't want to take unnecessary chances. I just want them to blend into the crowd. All six of them are very distinctive. I was going to ride the train but I can't."

"So maybe just brown hair and eyes and leave the rest alone?" Remus asked.

"Except Harry's glasses." Augusta added, "They are too well known."

"I have a new pair supposed to be ready today." Harry waved her off, "Remus and I will be picking them up this afternoon. Neville you need to go blond with blue eyes. Hermione go darker and smoother."

"I can't get it any smoother." She complained.

"Maybe shorten your hair then." Ginny offered her advice.

They worked diligently for an hour getting the new looks down pat. Rather than assigning new names they all decided to just not talk unless needed. The next morning Augusta stayed at home so they could hide easier. She waited until they were gone to let her tears escape. It had been nice to have a house full of polite children. The house would seem far too quiet now. Sirius had even left to head to school. It was quite amusing to see him given the roll of professor. It would be interesting to see how the year would turn out.

The group made it to the platform with half an hour to spare. Harry noted several aurors standing in the crowd. Of course they spotted them immediately even though they were out of uniform. They just had a stiffness about them and they were all looking around. Not one was trying to seem like they were here for someone. The group entered the train with no problem and found a compartment that fit them all. With ten minutes left Harry turned his eyes to the platform. He was sure someone was going to try something and he wanted to be ready. When the train pulled away with no incident he started to really worry. Finally he got up and walked through the cars. When he returned he sat down with a huff.

"There are no Slytherins on the train." He stated.

"None?" Neville asked.

Harry shook his head and Ron offered his thoughts, "They're either going to attack the train at some point or get us at the Hogsmeade depot."

"My bet is the train." Hermione added.

"Why?" Ginny asked as her concern grew.

"Once we figure out there are no Slytherins we'll try to get a message to the professors." She finished.

Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a mirror. Looking into it he said, "Sirius."

"What's up?" a voice came from the mirror.

"Who was the first person to speak?" he asked his security question first.

"James did but what did he say?" Sirius asked in return.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." Harry replied, "There are no Slytherins on the train. Ron thinks either an attack on the train as it is underway or at the station. Hermione says the train is more logical because we could warn you in time for you to help at the depot."

"Right I'm on my way to meet him right now and I'll bring up that I didn't see any of the Slytherins on the platform and that we should probably take measures in case it means something." Sirius agreed, "What are you going to do?"

"Organize the train to defend itself in an attack." He replied.

"Good idea. Bye." Sirius picked up the pace and ran to the office.

"Ok, I think we should gather all the first and second years together. Set the fifth years to guard them. Spread the third and fourth years out with the six and seventh to keep an eye out. Lastly the older quidditch people will have their brooms handy in case of an aerial attack." Harry set out his plan, "Any comments or questions?"

"I think that's good." Ron offered with Ginny and Neville nodding along.

"Having all the youngest in one spot is easier to keep track of them but it would also make capturing them easier." Hermione offered.

"We need to question the quidditch members and make sure they can fly and use a wand at the same time." Luna added.

"Will it still be a good plan if they attack from both places?" Ginny asked.

"Yes I think so." Hermione shrugged while Ron and Luna nodded.

"Right I'm going to talk with the driver and the trolley lady." Harry started, "We need to know if they're squibs or if they can help. Each of you take a car and explain what's going on."

"Take Ginny with you and do the first car." Ron suggested, "We'll stay in couples for safety."

"Good idea." Harry nodded.


	11. Chapter 11

NOTE: I don't think they would teach how to make portkeys in school, or at least not until 7th year (there is one special exception mentioned in this chapter). Next while they learn to apparate in sixth year, I doubt the newly licensed apparaters would be comfortable doing side alongs with eleven year olds. And if they did then the oldest would be gone with the youngest and the rest are stuck. Also there are no aurors on the train they were only at the station. Lastly with the train moving it would be difficult to hit it with incoming adults apperating, unsure about elves but I don't think it would be a good idea to try. These are my reasons on why they have to stay on the train. Now on with the story.

Twenty minutes later the group met again. Luna was the one to report, "We put the first and second years in the second car. Everyone else fit into the first and third cars. They're a bit snug but it means we can lose the last two cars if we need to."

"Excellent, both the engineer and the trolley lady are magicals." a few hours later Harry came back from another visit with the engineer, "We have a new problem. The engineer says we have a bridge out in about twenty minutes. He could stretch that out to thirty if we need but any slower and they'll be able to catch us on brooms."

"Has he contacted anyone?" Hermione asked.

"He tried but he hasn't received an answer." Harry replied, "We are both under the assumption that something has happened at that end."

"Well." Ron started but paused.

"What?" Ginny and Hermione asked together.

"We could cut off the back cars and levitate the rest of them over the gap." He suggested.

"I don't want any of us off the train." Harry said, "That will be were the death eaters are waiting."

"If we levitate from inside we can't get it over the gap." He sighed.

"If it has good momentum it could make it over that way." Hermione offered.

"Why not have the quidditch teams fly alongside." Ginny suggested, "We can keep it moving with the momentum that is already there."

"Harry could cast a feather light charm on the train and that would make it much easier." Luna gave the final piece.

"Neville what do you have?" Harry turned to him.

"We have seven plants at varying degrees of danger." He reported, "We have a Devils Snare and Mimbulus Mimbletonia at the back of the third car. Then we have Fanged Geraniums between the other cars. It's not much but it will slow them down a bit."

"Someone brought a Devils snare on the train?" Hermione asked.

"It was just a clipping." Neville grinned, "But I have a way with plants."

"Is it big enough to do anything?" Ron asked.

"It is now." Neville grinned, "I hope if they try to board they start at the back."

"If we cut the last two cars are the plants still in place?" Harry asked.

"Yes we put them just inside the back door. Luna enlarged the space so they wouldn't get into the students." He offered.

"Excellent, Hermione go cut them off. Neville go with her and help with the plants." Harry directed, "Ginny gather the quidditch players and let them know what we're going to do. Luna you and Ron begin using the feather light charm on the cars. I'll stay in the engine and place the charm on it last. We'll remove them in the same order. After that charm is in place and the back cars are cut off Hermione will be in the last car and will levitate the middle. Luna in the middle and levitate the back. Neville, you are on the first car to levitate the coal car while Ron and I will be in the coal car. He'll levitate the first car and I'll get the engine. Ron you will keep your broom in your other hand in case we get knocked off the open car. Any questions?"

No one had any so they set to work. Neville froze the plants so Hermione could get by and sever the coupling. Ginny gathered the flyers and prepared them for their part. Ron returned to the coal car where Harry was waiting.

"Everything is ready but the engine." He yelled to be heard over the wind noise.

"Good I'll wait to hit it last. Where are the flyers?" Harry yelled back.

"One of the seventh year Ravens transfigured two windows in each car to be a door. They'll just fly out the sides and line up." Ron informed him, "I thought it was a good idea."

"Brilliant. Make sure we know who that was so we can thank them properly once we're safe at Hogwarts." Harry nodded, "Here comes the break… wow that's larger than I expected."

"It will still work with the fliers helping us along." Ron encouraged.

"Right, levitate the back car." Harry yelled and the information was passed along and within a few seconds the car was off the tracks, "Now the second."

On it went until they were nearly at the break. Harry threw the feather light charm on the engine and then levitated it. As soon as its wheels were off the tracks several students flew off the train on their brooms. Four on each car with Ginny right beside Harry.

"Looks like more than the teams." Harry yelled at her.

"There are twenty fliers." She explained, "We had to recruit a few new ones."

"I thought you got all the quidditch teams. Even without Slytherin it should have been twenty one." Ron looked confused

"We don't have full teams." Harry explained, "Gryffindor lost four players last year."

Ron looked like he wanted to smack himself in the face, "Wasn't thinking."

"Tracks approaching." Harry interrupted what could have turned into a fight if Ginny had got to say what she had wanted in reply to that, "As soon as the whole train is over we'll begin to lower it."

"Lower slowly so we can make sure it is on the tracks." Ginny yelled.

Harry slowly lowered the engine as the fliers made adjustments to make sure it was over the tracks and would make a smooth landing. Once it was down he cancelled the feather light charm. Ron indicated for Neville to lower the coal car at the same slow rate. On it went until all the cars were on the tracks again. Finally a few larger boys helped to pull the fliers back onto the train. All in all Harry was rather proud of the students and told them so.

"Did anyone see any hints of death eaters or anything?" He asked.

"I looked behind us once and thought I saw someone on the far side of the break." Katie Bell answered, "I couldn't tell anything more and I'm not particularly sure it was even a person as I only had a few seconds to look."

"Everyone keep your eyes open and your wands at the ready." Harry instructed, "I'm going back to visit with the driver."

"I'll go with him and bring back news." Ginny told Hermione before he followed.

Hermione collapsed into a seat near her and was followed by Ron, Luna and Neville. It was Seamus who asked the question, "If you were all levitating the cars and are this tired how is Harry still up and moving?"

"Harry simply has more power." She explained, "While he drained the same or even more magic than we did he still has plenty left."

Ginny returned a few minutes later wide eyed and shaking.

"What's wrong?" Hermione met her at the door.

"The driver is injured." She replied, "Now he is driving but he wants Dean up to the front please."

Dean jumped up and followed Ginny and the two found Harry in the engine with the driver setting on the floor giving directions. Harry was taking notes as quickly as he could and relayed them back to the driver as he went. Luna was just behind Dean and Ginny. When the driver finished Harry handed the notes to Dean and turned to Luna.

"Portkey to St. Mungo's please." He then turned to the driver, "Give them this note. It tells them exactly what bit you."

"Why didn't we portkey the kids off if she can make one?" Dean asked Ginny.

"She couldn't make enough. She'll pass out for a while after this one." Ginny shrugged, "We had to keep that option as a backup in case anyone got hurt."

"What bit him?" Dean asked after the driver was gone.

Harry pointed to a very large and very dead snake in the corner of the engine. Dean refrained from screaming at the sight, but just barely, "Are you going to burn it or something?"

"No I want Dumbledore to look at it." Harry repliled, "Girls go on back I'm sure they're in a panic. We have instruction on how to stop the train and we will have a welcoming committee of healers, teachers and aurors so if the death eaters try to jump us on the platform they'll get a big surprise. We'll begin to slow the train down in about five minutes. We'll reach the depot in ten."

The news that the trip was nearly over was a welcome relief to most of the students. But with more time yet to pass none of them were ready to drop their guard. Dean brought the train into the station at a crawl. Harry had ordered that all doors stayed shut until they could verify that those waiting were the ones they expected to be waiting. Harry made sure Sirius and Dumbledore were who they claimed and he let them verify the rest of the adults present. Soon enough the children were all off the train and moving up to the school. It was about this time that Albus noticed the number of cars.

"Where are the last two cars?" He asked rather shocked.

"About an hour or so back down the tracks." Harry answered as he got on the last carriage, "They were dead weight we couldn't deal with. Since we had emptied them of students and their baggage we simply left them."

The last carriage pulled off and left Dumbledore standing and staring at his much shortened train. A bag full of dead snake lay at his feet. Harry was the last student into the Great Hall and found three of the four tables glaring at the Slytherin table. Albus stood from the head table as Harry found a seat between Neville and Ginny with Ron and Hermione across from him. The room was already completely silent so Albus started his speech right away.

"First I must apologize to the first years. Because of circumstances you did not get to have the traditional boat ride across the lake this evening." None of those that were waiting to be sorted looked like they really cared about the boat ride, "Next please stop glaring at the Slytherin table. They were sent a note that looked to be from their head of house declaring that we thought the train was too dangerous this year and they were instructed to floo to The Three Broomsticks between four thirty and five this afternoon. None of them were aware of the problems the train was having."

The glaring lessened but it didn't stop entirely. The first years were sorted in short order and the feast began. However, the joyous mood that was usually present for the feast was notably absent. Harry watched as Madam Pompfry stood from her seat and made her way first to Snape and then to the headmaster. Once the meal was finished Albus stood up to address the students again.

He gave his normal speech and warnings, before he sent them all off to bed he offered some help, "One last item before I send you all off to bed. Anyone who requires a calming or sleeping draught this evening may go to the infirmary first. Prefects please make sure any of the first years that would like one is escorted to the infirmary and back to their dorm room."

Classes began the next morning and Harry was glad to see the new History professor take up teaching two doors down from Binn's old classroom. While Dumbledore had finally hired someone he refused to have the ghost exercised. Potions class was a definite improvement for most everyone but the man still sneered and growled at Harry. It made it worse when Harry took his abuse without even batting an eye. He was questioned by his friends after they left the room.

"Harry, are you going to suspend him?" Ron whispered with a hopeful look.

"No, I've asked Helena to explain things to him." Harry responded almost as quietly as his friend had asked.

"How much?" Hermione asked.

"Not enough for him to know who they are." He shrugged, "But enough to know they are watching him."

At lunch Dumbledore asked Harry to follow him to his office. Upon arrival he found the snake still in the sack sitting on a table. He followed the headmaster to the table and watched as he opened the bag. The man waved his wand over the snake and a small bit of smoke lifted out.

"She is not dead yet." The headmaster proclaimed, "Her heart beats once every three minutes."

Harry nodded and pulled the sword from his backpack. He quickly sliced the head off the snake and waited while Dumbledore did several spells over the animal. When he was finished he nodded and turned to Harry.

"She is dead now." His expression then turned rather serious, "I don't like you carrying that sword around a school full of children. I will keep it here hidden for you until you need it."

"No." Harry shook his head, "I only carried it today in case we needed it for the snake. I will be putting it in a hiding place with adequate protection this evening."

"Harry, it's too dangerous." He disagreed.

"Dobby." Harry called and handed the sword and scabbard over to the elf when he arrived, "Put this back in its hiding place at the manor."

"Yes Master Harry Sir." He popped away.

"Better?" he turned back to the headmaster.

"Better." Dumbledore nodded.

Defense Against the Dark Arts with Sirius was… different. The door opened and the class began to file in. Harry made sure he was the last through the door because he was expecting a prank of some sort. However the room he entered into was empty of teachers. The lights were on, the windows clear, but no Sirius in sight. Harry and his friends were immediately on the defensive.

"What's wrong Potter?" Draco Malfoy tittered from across the room, "Think they were wrong to clear him, think he's going to kill you on the first day?"

The Slytherins laughed along with him but the rest of Gryffindor quietly pulled their wands and began to look around. The Slytherins were still laughing until all the shutters closed over the windows and all candles and torches were blown out.

"I guess I was right, he is out to kill you." Draco chortled.

Harry began to move. He stayed quiet and felt before he moved so that he wouldn't give his position away by making a sound. Those that had trained with him were doing the same, all going in different directions. They had all gone through what Sirius' idea of a fun exercise was and they were wondering what he was up to now. Someone to the right of Harry gave a small sound like the start of a startled yelp but it was quieted right away. Harry back up a few steps before slowly moving to the side again, he was crouched in a ready position just waiting for something else.

All of the sudden spells were flying through the air. Harry shielded and when his shield was hit he moved and shielded again so that his position was never given away. When the lights came on only six students were standing and they all still had their shields up. The rest of the class was bound, frozen or some other way of being held captive without being unconscious.

"Well done." Sirius was sitting on the desk at the front, "You six take your seats."

As Harry walked across the room to take a seat he was glad he left his shield up. Sirius' hex bounced off and hit Draco turning his hair a lurid pink. Harry chuckled and didn't lower his shield even after he sat down.

"Look around you. Those who do not have any restrictions may survive a battle." Sirius explained what had happened, "This was a test to see how you would react." He didn't let anyone loose until the class was over.

There next exciting class came during History of Magic. Harry wasn't taking the course but he had a free period so he went to see how the first class went. Everyone lined up outside of Binns room but the door was locked. Just after the bell rang a door open up two rooms down.

"Are you all in line for History?" a woman's voice called.

"Yes." Hermione turned to find a younger woman standing in the doorway.

"That would be this classroom unless you just want to hear about goblin and giant wars." She announced, "I am Professor Cartwright. I'm teaching a little different class. I prefer to cover things that are actually interesting."

"I'm in." a male voice called from the crowd as the group moved down the hall.

"Why are we in this room?" Susan Bones asked as they reached the door.

"If you can't get Binns to quit teaching History then just move the students." She explained.

Sound of affirmation followed the group into the class. Harry grinned as he walked away thinking maybe he should have taken History for one more year.

The first Saturday of the year Harry's group spent in the Room of Requirement searching for the Diadem. They left after searching for hours with nothing to show for it. Over the next few weeks Harry's group took as much time as they could to look for the diadem in the room. Luna had suggested that Harry fly her up high in the room so she could draw a rough map. It worked quite well in marking off the areas they had already looked in. It took weeks but Luna was the one to find it on a pile of rubble beside a blistered cabinet in mid-October. Harry pulled the sword out of the bag that they had put an expansion spell on. He hadn't left the sword in his manor as he had told Dumbledore. He wanted it with him in the event that Voldemort showed up. One short chop later and they were down to one Horcrux.

Before they could leave the room the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw floated in, "You have cleansed it?"

"We have." Harry nodded.

"May I see it?" she asked.

"Sorry I had to break it." Harry held out the two pieces, "It was the only way."

"It is of no matter." She smiled, "That it is clean is of far greater importance."

"You are correct." He smiled back at her.

"I Helena Ravenclaw, only daughter and heir of Rowena Ravenclaw hearby take Harry Potter, heir of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff by blood and heir of Slytherin by conquest, as my heir. Though I be only a ghost I am still the spirit of a Ravenclaw and I request that magic herself accept and uphold my decision. So swear I."

A gong reverberated through the room and in fact he was sure all of Hogwarts heard it. Harry bowed to the ghost and replied, "I Harry Potter, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin do accept magic's decision and will hereby add Ravenclaw to my name and to my responsibilities. So swear I. "

Harry waited for a moment before asking, "I can still come to you for advice can't I?"

"Of course." She replied and drifted off through the wall.


	12. Chapter 12

By Halloween every student thought that Hogwarts was better than ever. History wasn't a snooze fest, Potions wasn't torture and DADA was… exciting. When Flitwick stood on his chair at dinner everyone fell silent.

"I can't tell you all how excited I am. The heirs of the Founders have asked me to start up a dueling club. This is not going to just be a fight every meeting. We will be going over the rules for tournament behavior and preparing you to go into circuit dueling." He clapped his hands as he spoke, "Only fifth year and higher will be able to fight in the club because they have the spell knowledge to effectively duel, but anyone below are invited to come and learn the rules."

Once he was finished McGonagall stood, "I have also be asked to start an extracurricular activity. As you all know I am an animagus and I will be offering to all fifth year and higher instruction on the transformation. The only requirement is that you have the ability which is a simple test."

"Anything for us little kids?" a fourth year Ravenclaw asked sarcastically.

"I am starting a chess club." Dumbledore announced, "There is no age limit on that club."

Before anything else could be said there was a loud boom and the castle shook. Some began to panic and others pulled their wands. A few Slytherins tried to quietly throw out some spells but they found a shield over their table. Those same few found themselves being shocked into unconsciousness. The fact that there were unconscious students at all four tables was not lost on Harry.

"What is the meaning of this?" Snape was the first to stand and yell as he saw some of his snakes pass out.

"The castle is under attack." Dumbledore said as he stood, "But I don't know about the shields or students that are down."

"I can answer that." Harry stood, "The heir of the Founders placed a spell on each of the tables. In the case of an attack while students were in the room a shield would protect each house from harm. However if any student tried to hex, curse or in any way harm another student they would be taken out."

"How do you know?" Snape growled.

"Because I placed the spells." He answered.

"You think you are the heir to the Founders?" Snape sneered, "You are nothing but a…"

He was cut off as the ghosts entered the room and began to speak to Harry, "My Lord, dark wizards are at the gates trying to break them down."

"Do you know how many?" Harry addressed the group.

"We counted fifty dark wizards." Nearly Headless Nick answered, "But we have reason to believe some are also coming from the forest, possibly stirring up the Acromantulas."

"We're prepared for that." Harry turned to Neville, "Turn them on."

Neville rushed from the room and Sirius followed right behind him. Remus stopped at Harry and waited for instructions.

"Ron, get the twins." Then he turned to Dumbledore, "Have you called aurors or the Order yet?"

"No, but I'll get right on that, Minerva if you would please start with the aurors." He stood and swept from the room.

"Remus, Hermione, Ginny, Luna start gathering the trash." He indicated a few fallen Gryffindors.

"If you all want to help then tie up those that are knocked out." Hermione instructed as she began by throwing a spell at Cormac McLaggen, "They can't be woken up by you. Otherwise just sit at your table until we get to you."

"Where are you taking my Slytherins?" Snape had finally come out of his shock and marched up to Harry with a sneer on his face.

"Those knocked out from any table are being sent to a secure room and watched over by the elves. They will be removing any wands, portkeys or any other magical device or tracking spell." Harry explained, "The rest of the students will be in here safe under their shield. If they try to hurt each other they'll be taken care of just like the first group. Any student getting knocked out will be questioned after the battle for why they thought it was a good idea to hurt other students. I'll deal with the spells on the seats later."

Two dogs took that moment to run back into the hall and each morphed back to their human self.

*****Flashback*****

"There it is, this is the dog." Neville pointed over Remus' shoulder.

"Let's see then." Remus pulled the book closer, "Robust and powerful, the Rottweiler is happiest when given a job to perform. His intelligence, endurance and willingness to work make him suitable as a police dog, herder, service dog, therapy dog, obedience competitor and devoted companion. An inherent protector, the Rottweiler is self-confident and responds quietly and with a wait-and-see attitude to influences in his environment. He is medium in size and his coat is black with rust to mahogany markings. They love their people and may behave in a clownish manner toward family and friends, but they are also protective of their territory and do not welcome strangers until properly introduced."

"Look at the jaws on that thing." Fred exclaimed, "One bite and I think he could take your arm clear off."

"I think it fits you Neville." Luna offered.

"Obedience competitor? I don't think that describes Neville." George disagreed with Luna.

"That means they are in dog shows." Harry snickered.

"What is a therapy dog?" Ron wondered.

"They provide companionship to those who are hospital bound." Hermione shrugged, "They use cats sometimes too."

"What kind of companionship?" Ron was doubtful.

"It's like when you're feeling down and the cat climbs into your lap and starts purring." Ginny offered, "Just makes you feel a bit better."

"Oh." Ron nodded finally catching on, "Then what's a service dog?"

"My father's uncle can't hear well anymore." Hermione shrugged, "He has a dog that barks and pulls at his sleave when the doorbell rings, or if there is a problem of some sort."

"So it means that Neville is a helpful person, who is ready to protect his people. Quiet and a wait-and-see attitude but will stand his ground if he thinks he needs to." Harry rounded out the conversation."

*****end flashback*****

"Activated and we have a few tangled up already." Neville stated.

"People or spiders?" Harry asked coming out of his thoughts.

"People." Sirius grinned handing over two wands, "They have been secured."

"Good work." He grinned back, "Sirius did you and Remus take care of the secret passages?"

"Yep did that weeks ago, they are ready to receive visitors." He nodded and turned to follow Remus out of the room, "We're headed to the welcoming room next."

"Dean, Seamus you two want in on the action?" Harry turned to them.

"Yeah!" they added together.

"Neville take these two and go back to your plants. Prep the bridge in case they get past." Harry told him.

"Prep the bridge for what?" Seamus asked as moved to the door.

"You're favorite spell." Neville laughed as they headed out, "The one that goes boom."

"Aurors are arriving; Kingsley is verifying them." Minerva reported, "Anything else?"

"Can you get the suits of armor and statues on the move?" He asked, "Station some in here."

"I've always wanted to do that spell." She giggled as she stepped back out of the Great Hall.

Groups of people started to enter the hall as more booms sounded and the castle continued to shake. Harry started to leave the room but was drawn to the side by Dumbledore, "Are we ready to take him out?"

"Yes everything that needed to be done in preparation is done." Harry stated, "We need to get people out to fight. I need to wait until Volde shows himself before I join in. Sirius made me promise."

"Wise idea." He stated as the man who had just been mentioned jogged up.

"Secret passage welcoming room is running smooth. We've caught five." Sirius reported, "All from Honeydukes passage."

"What is the welcoming room?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well if they step so far down the passage they get ported into a room where they are spelled to sleep, their wand is taken, they are tied up and searched for portkeys and the like. Then they are dunked in tar and feathers." Sirius explained, "When the tar dries it is as hard as steel. Only their face is clear so they don't die of suffocation."

Not much later another boom sounded much closer than the ones at the gates. Harry sighed and said, "Well Seamus is probably happy."

Teachers, Aurors and Order members began to stream out the front doors of the castle. They were nearly ready for when the gates were breached. A few minutes later Dean, Seamus and Neville arrived at a sprint and out of breath.

"Giants." Neville panted, "They just crushed a good portion of the Devils Snare."

"Death eaters started pouring through the openings." Dean added when he could breathe.

Seamus grinned, "A few of them made it onto the bridge before it went up."

"Well done." Harry turned back to Dumbledore, "Stay here and if he gets past me you can stop him before he gets to the students."

"Very well." Dumbledore sighed, "Severus will stay with me. If they run off I don't want to lose him as a spy."

"I doubt he will be running away." Snape finally added his opinion, "He is rather angry with Potter for the train especially killing his snake."

"I know." Harry grinned wider.

"What are you going to do Potter?" Snape asked dubiously.

"You'll find out if I get to do it." Harry turned and walked away heading out of the Great Hall for first time since the attack started.

No fighters were left in the hall save Dumbledore and Snape. The students that were left were watching the two teachers hoping for an explanation. Albus left them waiting as he stood in the room and looked out to the entrance waiting for news. Harry stood just outside the doorway on the front steps. The twins were in front of the rest of the Order and teachers so that before the gates gave way they could set up their… defenses. Harry was unsure how they called them defenses when they attacked unsuspecting death eaters but he wasn't going to argue with the two of them. They had begun to work on these items shortly after their first visit to Potter Manor.

*****Flashback*****

"Did you find your monkey?" Harry entered the library to find the twins and Remus still pouring over the books of animals. Neville's had been located hours ago.

"No." the twins huffed at the same time that Remus said, "I think so."

"Ok, so what do they deny being?" he laughed at their faces as he addressed Remus.

"Orangutans." He replied, "They don't look exactly like the picture yet because I think they are still considered juveniles. But the rest of the data fits."

"What's wrong with orangutans?" Harry was bewildered at their huff.

"They're ugly," Fred frowned.

"and stupid," George continued.

"and ugly." Fred repeated.

"They are highly trainable and have worked in a variety of entertainment positions." Remus grinned.

"They like to throw poo." Harry snickered, "Do it all the time at the zoo, you have to watch out for them."

"They throw poo?" Fred perked up.

"They are pranksters?" George looked at his brother.

"We saw a movie at Lily's house where the orangutan kept kissing unsuspecting people." Sirius offered, "I'll have to see about finding a way to watch it again. I swear it's were Lily got the name."

"What name?" Harry asked.

"You're confused." Remus snickered at Sirius, "Dirty Harry used the same actor as the orangutan movie but they were different movies."

"Whatever." Sirius shrugged, "Mr. Evans was a fan of that guys movies and we watched them on a rvc…crv…something tape."

"VCR?" Harry asked with a slight grin. He'd learned something new about his family.

"Yes that's it." Sirius grinned, "Your grandmum was fit to be tied when he came home with the box and sack of movies. Cost a small fortune is what Lils said."

"Wait back up… Dirty Harry?" the twins smirked.

"He was an auror that liked to go around beating up the bad guys." Remus offered, "But Harry was named after his granddad, Harold Evans."

"You know George I think we can make something out of this." Fred began to nod.

"You can?" Harry asked dubiously.

"Of course we can." George huffed, "We can make stuff from nothing so of course when we get something we can make something of it."

"Like what?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Dirty Harry bombs." Fred nodded, "We need to make a way to put the bomb in the ground and when it blows up bam you're smacked with a face, and body, covered in mud. Of course for death eaters we'll modify them to be full of sharp rocks, if we're lucky we could take out a wand."

"Or poo." George grinned, "After all orangutans like to throw poo."

"Where would you get the poo?" Sirius asked, which for him was the important part of the equation.

"They don't call it Hogsmeade for nothing." Fred scratched his chin in thought, "Of course we could go to just any farm and probably get cow, sheep, dog and cat poo too."

"I'm glad they're on our side." Remus whispered to Harry as the other three began to put their heads together to think up more nasty things to throw at death eaters.

*****end Flashback*****

Harry let slip a little smile when he saw the twins dig up a spot and drop something in it before moving and repeating the process. They each had a duffle bag on their backs and were pulling things out of them and setting them around. They were all just out of sight of the gates so the death eaters wouldn't know what they were getting into until it was far too late. When they were finished they moved to the back of the crowd under their mother's watchful eye. Harry approached them leaving Albus' sight.

"How goes the pranks?" he asked when he reached them.

"Great!" George answered without going into detail with their mother present.

Their mother looked worriedly at the three of them, "I hope you know what you're doing Harry. Death eaters aren't going to laugh themselves to death for us."

"You wound us." Fred placed a hand over his heart, "You think we're trying to make them laugh?"

"You own a joke shop, what else can you be doing?" the rhetorical question got an answer.

"They worked with Sirius and Remus on this stuff." Harry offered then turned back to the twins, "Did you make the dirty Harry bombs?"

"We did, the fertilizer market is seeing an upsurge in prices due to the unavailability of… raw material." Fred grinned, "But that's not all we have."

"No sir." George agreed sounding very much like a salesman, "We also have placed Portable Swamps in strategic places."

"Plus a few handfuls of Shocking Stones scattered on their side of the line." Fred added, "A new invention of Portable Quicksand is out but we've not really tested it much. We don't know how deep the pits are. We do know they suck anything that steps on them right down out of sight."

"We wanted to put out the Attacking Aglets but we couldn't get any of their shoes." George shrugged, "But we have a few trick wands that we'll throw out when we can. Any spell you shoot comes out the back end of the thing. We're hoping they'll go for AKs."

"Anything for our side?" Harry asked.

"Decoy detonators and disillusion eggs." George offered.

"Shield Domes." Fred finished the summary, "We also passed out shield cloaks, hats and gloves."

"Everything bad is beyond that white line." George pointed to the line in question, "Our people know not to step past it."

"We've also still got a lot of small things in here to throw at them." Fred patted his duffle bag, "One of which we don't have a name for. When it detonates it throws out a low level stunner in all directions with a flash of bright light and a loud bang."

"He wants to call them Flash Bangs but I said it was stupid." George shook his head, "But alas I couldn't come up with anything better in the short time we had."

"Got anything I can use to distract snake face?" he asked.

"Not for you to use exactly." Fred explained, "We took the story of the grave yard to heart and have made Pheonix Bubbles."

"When we blow the bubbles and they start to pop you hear a phoenix song." George scratched his head, "It is said that Phoenix song heartens the good and leaves fear in the heart of the bad. We don't know if it works or not because we don't know any evil dark lords willing to test for us."

"We feel quite cheery when we hear it but it is our invention and we are always happy when one succeeds." Fred shrugged.

Just then a large boom made the ground shake and people brought up their wands. Harry went back to the doorway and stood while Arthur and Molly took up positions at the back of the crowd near the twins. The rest of Harry's friends joined him while he watched Sirius give a pep talk to the crowd that, to their surprise, found themselves chuckling.

The sound of stomping feet cut him off and they all readied themselves for battle. The first group to reach their sights stopped just out of range of the teachers, order and Aurors. They were also fortunate enough to be behind Fred and George's items. Harry noticed a few turn back and he was sure they were scouts that were letting them know the score on the situation. It took several minutes for the rest of the group to catch up and start across the Weasley Terrifyingly Fortified Zone, a name that the twins had given it. It seemed to be a pretty good name for it as the first person stepped on a Shocking Stone and was driven to his knees with a scream.

It was hard not to laugh when the man thought it was over and stood back up only to hit the stone again. Several more scattered within the group did the same and the death eaters began to fire spells thinking they were already under attack. Harry smiled widely and high fived Ron when Fenrir Greyback stepped on a Portable quicksand and disappeared from sight. Swamps on either side of the path sprung into being as their opponents tried to flank the group.

"Wow those are bigger than the one they used in the hall last year." Ron observed dryly.


	13. Chapter 13

Finally the first of the dirty Harry bombs were set off and Harry swore he could smell it clear up to the door. Several of the death eaters near the blast zone were bent over and it looked like they were gagging. The one unfortunate soul that triggered it was flat on his back under a pile of poo.

"What kind of stuff is in that?" Seamus asked from behind Harry.

"A mixture of any animals dung they could get." Hermione explained, "They've had it for a while under some kind of stasis spell. I'm pretty sure they somehow increased the odor."

"I think they said something about partial fermentation and keeping it warm and wet." Ginny shrugged, "All I know for sure is that I won't touch anyone who has been near it."

"Right." Dean agreed holding his nose, "I think they may have done too good of a job this time."

"Bubbleheads." Harry suggested as he watched a few of the nearest death eaters wave their wands then pull off their masks and try to cast some charm at their heads.

None of the magic seemed to work and Harry looked over towards the twins and saw them give each other a very evil grin. George trotted over at Harry's look, "We managed to do a low level magic suppression charm to the poo. After it goes off we didn't want anyone to just vanish it. If they manage from a distance it still doesn't take care of the smell."

"Evil, I'm glad they're on our side." Seamus unknowingly echoed Remus' words from the day they thought up the selfsame bombs.

The battle was really one sided for the first half hour. After that the tricks were running out and more death eaters were making it past the line. Harry saw one death eater sticking out of one of the portable quicksands. He was trying to climb out but before he could manage a stunner hit him. However he was revived again quickly and pulled out by another death eater. Thinking quickly Harry threw a spell at the line. The next few death eaters who crossed it while firing spells were taken out. It was the same spells he had used on the benches in the Great Hall to knock out students.

He was able to put the spell on the line again a few more times before he was too busy watching the battle and trying to provide shields where he could. His other friends were doing the same. The twins had managed to take out a good number of the enemy but there were many more coming behind them. Harry watched in horror when it seemed that Sirius was disarmed and out of range. However when the death eater used Sirius' wand against him it backfired and killed its wielder. Sirius then pulled his own wand out again. He had gotten one of the twins trick wands into the hands of the enemy. And Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He'd get Sirius later for nearly giving him a heart attack.

The battle was raging and Harry was split between trying to watch out for the defenders and to see if Voldemort had joined the battle. After several hours a voice rose over the battlefield.

"Defenders of Hogwarts you have fought well. I will call back my followers now and allow you to gather your dead and tend to your dyeing. Harry Potter I now speak to you. Come and give yourself up and I will spare Hogwarts and her students. If you do not I will allow the battle to restart and this time I will join. You have one hour."

Death eaters pulled back out of sight and the defenders collectively pulled back towards the walls of the castle. The twins, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville headed out onto the field and began to sort through the bodies. Injured were taken into a room near the door and Madam Pomphrey, along with some healers who had arrived, began to tend to them. Bodies of death eaters were tossed into a pile at the edge of one of the swamps. The twins began to gather up the shocking stones and reset them. Then started pulling bodies from the portable quicksand. Those bodies were tossed on to the pile with the others. The few injured death eaters that were found were left until last.

"We should take them for treatment." Minerva told the group of boys who were sorting through.

"Why so they can join the other side when it starts back up?" Dean asked with his voice full of sarcasm.

"We can stabilize any that are critical and then leave them and their injuries off to the side." Kingsley suggested, "That way we don't just let them die but we also aren't helping the other side. The only other option is to send them to the ministry or St. Mungo's where more of his followers will patch them up and send them back here. Poppy and her friends have their hands full with our side. A major part of war is keeping our side strong."

"Sympathy is good but mercy will have to wait until we have won." Harry stepped in when it looked like Minerva was going to argue.

"You don't let your opponent put any pawns back on the board." Ron agreed with Harry.

"I guess I can understand that." She finally gave in, "We'll put them in another room then so they can't be reached during the next part. Harry you aren't going to disappear on us are you?"

"No, Sirius already forbid it. This is what we have been waiting on." He gave her a slight grin.

"Do you need a pepper up potion or anything?" she asked eyeing him critically.

"Nope, I've been good." He laughed.

The battle field was cleared and the twins began to set up their tricks again. They pulled up and moved the portable quicksand, it was portable after all. They also reset the swamps and found a few bodies that had fallen prey to one of the tricks inside. The original fighters were checked and cleared of any spell damage and got fed and rehydrated. A few of the injured fighters returned to the battle field. Surprisingly the defenders had only lost a hand full of people. Far fewer than the attacking army had lost. They were still outnumbered. At the half hour mark Harry walked out to the line and reset his spell. Several of the ghosts approached him.

"You carry our faith with you." A womans voice made Harry turn and face the ghosts.

"My thanks Lady Helena." He bowed slightly, "Any last minute advice?"

"When he was in school he always preferred the shadows." The Baron added, "Subterfuge and trickery or as some called it charm and wit."

"He holds no charm for me." Harry frowned, "He really thinks that power is the only thing worth having. Friendship and love are the only things worth having."

_*****Flashback*****_

"She did it." Ron entered the room yelling, "Come see, she did it."

The rest of the group ran from the training room and headed towards the pitch. Hermione, Ron and Luna were the last ones to get their animagus transformations and Luna had said she wasn't coming in today until she got it. They all left the room expecting to see just a polar bear but half way down the slope to the pitch Ron changed into his lion form. On the pitch was the last two, another lion and the bear.

"You all did it." Neville yelled, "Congratulations."

The rest of the crew had transformed and the odd group of animals played on the pitch until well after dark. Remus had put up a few lights so that the people in the portrait could watch them. They had seemed to come up with a game of tag of some sort and it looked like Ron was it. He was closing in on Luna when she disappeared in a flash of flames. She reappeared on the other side of the pitch with a red phoenix on her back.

"No fair." Ron changed back and yelled.

"Can you do that to anyone?" Hermione transformed as he had yelled. To her surprise a black phoenix landed on her shoulder and she found herself next to Ron, "I'll take that as a yes shall I?"

"Ok new rule, no flashing people out of the way during tag." Ron huffed.

The black phoenix swooped down again and picked up the red head and flashed him to the newest toy they had discovered in the basement of the house. It a matter of seconds Ron found himself dropped into the pool. Next Hermione appeared with a red phoenix than, Neville, Luna, and Remus

The red phoenix had flown over the water and transformed to drop right beside Ron and covered him with a wave of water. When he recovered he found his evil sister swimming as fast as she could to the edge. He was set to follow her when he was hit with another wave of water. Harry had drug the last of the crew with him. So both Sirius and Harry dropped in not far from Ron. The wave was considerably larger than Ginny's. Both Ron and Sirius decided to get Harry for drowning them both so they started a splash war, which was only ended when Luna returned to her polar bear and jumped in and splashed them all.

"I just adore the water." She commented to the laughter of all involved.

_*****end Flashback*****_

"You only have fifteen more minutes before they return." Nick pulled him from his thoughts.

"Right, best to get ready they may very well come early." Harry shrugged and stepped back about ten feet from the line and conjured a chair much like his favorite squishy arm chair at the manor. He proceeded to sit in it and throw his leg over the arm and relaxing into its depths.

"What are you doing mate?" Ron approached.

"Waiting." He replied nonchalantly.

"For Moldy?" he asked then answered his own question, "Of course you are and you're making a statement as you do."

"Do Fred and George have any fake wands left?" he asked as Ron huffed in annoyance.

"I'll see." He turned and stalked off.

Ginny approached and gave him a kiss, "Don't get to complacent."

"Never." He grinned then turned to see the twins on his other side.

"We're fresh out of fake wands." George and Fred replied together before asking, "May I ask what you're doing?"

"Waiting." He grinned back at them and the three Weasleys went back to the school.

At the one hour mark the teachers, Order members and the Aurors stood up ready to begin again. A commotion from the back made them turn around. Charlie Weasley was the first through the door but he was followed by a group of others. Not to be deterred from their jobs the twins and Harry's friends pulled their wands and held the group by the door.

"Not to be rude or anything but we need to make sure." Ron offered as an apology to the new group, "Don't want any death munchers joining from the wrong side."

"Charlie what nickname will you hex anyone but me for using?" Ginny asked.

"Curly." He glowered having to reveal that awful name.

Hermione gave Ginny a questioning look. She grinned, "I couldn't pronounce Charlie for the longest time. It always came out Curly."

"Can anyone verify these others?" Ron called to the adults.

Everyone was verified and they explained the situation to the new comers including why Harry was sitting at the front of the group in a chair. Soon the sound of marching filled the air. A wedge shape of death eaters led the way up the path. Some tried again to flank the group and were caught in the reset swamps. Several from the line disappeared down portable quicksand which were then marked and everyone behind them avoided the spots. Harry stayed sitting in his chair, leg still thrown over the arm and it was swaying a bit. When those at the front of the line noticed him they wavered in their steps and eventually slowed to a halt and stepped aside for their leader.

"So you wait for your death in a soft chair to cushion the blow." Voldemort laughed.

"Not really, I know how you like to monolog so I thought I'd just relax until you got past that point." Harry with a slight yawn, "Are you finished?"

Ignoring his remark Voldemort addressed the rest of the group, "Have you all come to witness his death or are you going to be foolish enough to try and step between him and death? That is how he operates you know he hides behind your talent and hopes he can get a lucky punch."

"Doesn't look like he's hiding to me." Charlie's voice called.

"Are you finished yet?" Harry took the attention back on himself as he stood and banished his chair, "Because I have decided that I really have better things to do than listen to you."

"Avada…" Voldemort started with a lazy flick of his wand but wasn't able to finish.

Harry flicked his wand at the same time and sent a bludgeoning hex that knocked the mad man back a step, "Have to be faster than that."

"Avada…" he began again.

Harry hit him again before he could finish, "Shorter spells make for faster deuling."

After that the fight began in earnest. All around the pair people began to fight too. Harry didn't pay much attention to them as it took all his concentration to fight the man he was faced with. Spells where flying hot and heavy and the air was filled with yells and the noise of spells connecting, although around the pair the sounds were diminishing.

"You have no hope Potter, give up now." Voldemort sneered.

"You can't say I have no hope." Harry replied still flinging spells, "But I have it and my hope is that I won't have to look at your face much longer."

"I can grant you that." Voldemort threw another nasty curse, "I'll be killing you soon so you won't be looking at anything."

Harry stepped out of the way and replied, "I don't think so. Try another way."

"I will kill you and then all your friends." He growled, "I cannot be stopped."

"Actually you can." Harry laughed, "Let me tell you how I know. I destroyed your book in second year with basilisk venom. Then this year I destroyed a locket, a ring, a cup, a snake and finally a diadem. Did I miss anything?"

"NO!" Voldemort screamed, "You are lying."

"Well, why don't we find out?" Harry offered and then threw a disarming curse as Voldemort sent the killing curse.

Harry had been dueling with his phoenix wand and the two spells connected like at the graveyard just over a year ago. While Voldemort concentrated on pushing the bead of the spell at Harry, Harry pulled his second wand. He quickly sent a cutting spell at Voldemort's neck and the mad man was too preoccupied battling Harry's other spell and fell with his head rolling off to the side.

"Nope I wasn't lying." Harry looked over the remains of his nemesis. He was finally able to pay attention to the battle surround him and found that it too was over, "How did it go?"

"We lost a few aurors." George approached.

"And two Order members." Fred added.

"Most everyone has some kind of injury." Ron was looking Harry over for injuries.

"How are you?" Ginny asked putting her hands on his face.

"Fine." He replied.

"Harry." She frowned at him, "You've been dueling Voldemort for more than an hour. You have to be tired at the very least. Fine is not an allowed answer."

"Yes I am a bit tired." He admitted, "There isn't any way I fought him for more than an hour. I thought it was about ten minutes. And really I feel fine."

"Maybe its shock." George offered.

"You mean he doesn't feel it yet?" Ron asked.

"Possible." Fred narrowed his eyes at Harry, "Let's take him to Pomfrey."

"Really guys, I'm fine." Harry tried to convince them as they pushed and pulled him to the makeshift Hospital in the entryway, "I don't need to take any of her time."

"I'll be the judge of that Mr. Potter." Pomfrey pointed at a bed, "Sit."

"Fine, but take care of those with injuries first." He sat down, "I can wait."

"You are next." She insisted and began to scan him. Harry yawned once before he fell asleep sitting on the side of bed during the exam, "Lay him down. I don't think it's anything more than exhaustion but I'll check."

Next thing Harry knew he was waking up in the Hospital. He rubbed his eyes and looked around for his glasses. Once he found them and put them on he looked around the room to see who else was still there. To his surprise he was alone he hoped that it was a good sign.

A door opening gained his attention. Fred entered quietly at first but grinned when he saw Harry awake, "Ah, sleeping beauty has awoken."

"I wonder who kissed him to break the spell." George added as he entered behind his brother.

"How long?" Harry asked in a sleepy voice.

"Couple of days." Fred smirked, "We were just able to get the others to go shower."

"We had to tell them their stink was what was keeping you out." George laughed with Harry.

"Is it really over?" Harry asked.

"It is." Fred nodded.

"You are the hero and you have a new name." George grinned evilly.

"I don't want to know." Harry shook his head.

"But you must."

"I must not."

"You must."

"Not."

"Must."

"Not."

"Must oh Boy-Who-Kicked-Butt." Fred stopped him.

"Really?" Harry asked that one was far lamer than he expected.


	14. Chapter 14

_"Must oh Boy-Who-Kicked-Butt." Fred stopped him._

_"Really?" Harry asked that one was far lamer than he expected._

"No." George laughed, "One is the Man-Who-Won."

"Boy-Who-Lived-Again." Fred added.

"And I thought the first one was lame." Harry grumbled.

"One more." Fred tapped his chin with a finger, "If I could just remember it."

"I think you are trying to remember Property-Of-Ginny-Weasley-Hands-off." George offered.

"Yes that's the one." Fred clapped Harry on the back hoping for a bright red face.

He was disappointed when Harry just grinned, "That one I can live with."

"You better." Ginny growled from the door before she finished entering then grinned at him as she approached and kicked the twins off his bed so she could reach him and give him a hug and kiss, "I'm glad you're awake."

"Me too." He grinned, "So what have I missed?"

"Parties mostly." Fred shrugged.

"Did anyone question our captives?" he asked.

"Madam Bones did." Ron answered as the rest of the group made it to his bed, "Used veritiserum and priori incontatum. Seventeen of them have been arrested. They are the ones over seventeen."

"The other ten have been put on probation." Hermione added, "They get to keep their wands but only get to use them during class and supervised study periods. Otherwise they are locked in McGonagall's office. When they finish school they'll be on probation for another five years. They have to record every spell they do and why they used it. Then once a week thier wand is checked to make sure the list is complete and correct. Any deviation can be cause for punishment."

"There were more than twenty seven taken away." Harry said thoughtfully, "What happened to the others?"

"Surprisingly Malfoy used a shield not a harmful spell. He did mean it to hurt but he was just shoving someone off their bench not trying to kill them." Ginny told him, "He was just given a detention since his spell wasn't meant to kill."

"The rest were a variety of spells like that." Hermione offered, "Anyone who didn't try to send a lethal spell was let off with a warning basically."

"Well not surprising." Harry shrugged, "My spell was based on intent not any spell by name."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because even a levitation spell can be dangerous if used with ill intent." Luna offered.

"True." Harry nodded along with Luna, "For instance bashing in the skull of a troll."

"Well when you put it that way." Ron tried to keep his chuckle in.

"Pup, you're awake!" Sirius yelled from the door.

"And so is everyone else in the castle, now." Harry called back.

"Grans and Gramps all send their congratulations and get wells." Sirius plopped on the bed next to Harry's.

"Thanks for letting them know." He yawned again.

"Do you need more sleep?" Remus had walked in with Sirius.

"NO!" Harry waved him off, "I've slept enough for seven people I'm sure. It's just a lingering fogginess from so much sleep."

"Well you missed all the fun." Sirius grinned.

"Did I now." Harry didn't buy it.

"You really did." Remus added with a smirk, "Nott finally tried to escape last night."

"So what did Dirkley do?" Harry sat up paying close attention now."

"Well first Nott tried to get out of his cell." Sirius started, "Dirkley told us about the part we weren't there for."

_*****flashback*****_

"What you doing?" Dirkley found one of the prisoners stuck between the bars. One arm and leg were through but he was now stuck.

"Let me loose." Nott yelled.

"You can go back into the cell but you can't come out." Dirkley explained, "The gaps shrink and hold you. I'm really surprised it took someone this long to try."

"You stupid elf let me go." He yelled still trying to push his way out.

"You not very smart." Dirkley stood staring at the man.

"You are a servant you should be doing what I say." He was still pushing, "Now get me out."

"I not your elf so I don't do what you say." Dirkley shook his head and waved a hand at the man sending him back into his cell.

The bars returned to their normal place and Nott dove at them. This time he was caught at the neck, "Agrdklsne."

"Whats that?" Dirkley asked, "You stuck again? Want me to fix you again?"

"Ylkeeeskjlss."the man gurgled.

Dirkley bopped him in the head and he was free again, "I not save you no more. If you gets stuck again you stuck."

"Why you little…" he tried to grab for the elf but found himself back in his bed. The next thing he knew he was waking up as another elf left some food. Diving off the bed he grabbed at the elf who popped away. He felt the sensation of apparition and when he opened his eyes he was still in his cell. Grumbling he turned to the cell next to his, "I've got to get out of here."

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH." The man in the next cell backed away staring at Nott in horror.

"What?" he asked after looking behind himself to find nothing there.

The only answer was a finger pointing at him and some gibbering. Dirkley arrived a moment later, "Oh it's you again."

"What's wrong with him?" He indicated the cell next to his where the man was cowering in the farthest corner he could get.

"He think you scary." Dirkley waved his hand and a mirror appeared.

"What?" he turn to look at himself and screamed, "When I get my wand back I'm going to make you scream and bleed. Now put me back to normal."

"Whoa, who is this ugly monstrosity?" Sirius approached, Dirkley had brought him and Remus down in time to hear the scream from the previous person. He had popped away from them but Nott's scream had led them to the right row.

"That be prisoner 24." Dirkely stated.

"Oh, that one, you know I think this is actually a better look." He grinned, "What did he do to be turned in to a giant tufted… uh what is that?"

"A shaved snorkack body, they are very clumsy. Ram horns on the erumpets head, we don't let them have the erumpets horn. Then we finish it with giant Chihuahua legs, a beaver tail and a platypus nose." Dirkley explained, "But that is just the first time he tried to escape that way. If he tries again we transfigure him more ugly."

"How long does he stay like that?" Remus asked.

"Until Sir comes back and sets him to rights." Dirkley huffed.

"So never then." Sirius nodded, "Right so prisoners are in good shape I think we can go now Remy."

"Yep." He grinned and the two left with the elf, Nott still screaming threats behind them.

_*****end flashback*****_

"Well I can't wait to see if he has changed anymore." Harry grinned, "Incidentally, why Chihuahua legs?"

"Skinny little weak legs that can't hold him up more than a few minutes." Remus described Nott's condition, "The ram horns are twice to three times normal size and he can just barely pick them up."

"Snorkacks bodies have muscled back ends but skinny front ends. Normally they have very long hair and when its cut it sticks out at weird angles." Luna provided another description.

"That puts it mildly." Sirius shivered before addressing Harry, "It makes your hair look flat."

"Question, what were you doing down at the prison?" Harry asked, "I thought you just went to inform the portraits on how the battle went."

"Well…" Sirius drew it out, "I managed to talk Bones into letting us take one of the prisoners."

"Why would she do that?" he asked.

"Well she said his actions would have gotten him kissed so she didn't see any reason why we couldn't have some fun first."

"Who did she let you have?" Harry asked, he was starting to get an idea and wanted to take part.

"Just a little rat." Remus delivered the news.

"Yes!" Harry yelled he had been hoping the man hadn't been killed by one of the twin's traps, "You can't start until I'm there."

"Well we already started a little." Sirius scuffed his foot on the floor, "But not since he was tossed in a cell."

"Lord Hogwarts it's so good to see you awake." Nearly Headless Nick led the other ghosts into the hospital interrupting the conversation, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." He answered with a grin, "Anything I need to know?"

"Other than someone trying to undo some of your work not much." The Baron provided a grin that could scare the grease from Snape's hair.

"Who tried and what did they try?" Harry asked.

"Dumbles and Snapey tried to remove the hex than knocks out aggressors." The Fat Friar giggled, "It's not pretty."

"Oh no." Hermione tried to hide her giggles, "Tell me they quit trying after the first failure."

"No, sorry." Helena Ravenclaw stated flatly, "They are not that intelligent."

"What shade did they reach?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but I can tell you they tried at least three or four times each." Nick offered, "However the last time Dumbles tried it his hair… poofed."

"Poofed?" Sirius asked.

"Remember the big hair from the seventies." Remus explained, "I gave him a picture of that guy we saw on the street by Lily's house."

"You mean the one who had curly hair that stood up about a foot tall?" he asked.

"Yes that one." Remus agreed.

"Oh, I have got to see this." Sirius turned and ran from the room only to come back in not more than five minutes later.

He was laughing his head off and soon the rest were as two people entered behind him. Snape's hair wasn't too bad. It was curly and tall but as his hair was only down to his shoulders to begin with so the curls were shorter. Dumbledore however sported hair three times as high as Snape's and it was neon pink.

"Mr. Potter fix this immediately or I will be forced to take off points." Dumbledore grumbled.

"Actually you can't." Harry grinned, "You are not allowed to remove points when you directly disobey one of the orders from the heirs."

"What?" Snape fumed.

"I told you that I would take care of the spells on the seats." Harry pointed out, "If I say I am taking care of something you are to stay away from it."

"Why you little…" that was as far as he got before he collapsed on the floor.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked looking at his fallen professor.

"He attempted to harm the heirs." Helena said succinctly, "That is not allowed you will need to find a new potions master he has been fired."

"But we need him here to spy." he began.

"To spy on what?" Remus asked, "Voldemort is dead!"

"Dead!" Dumbledore stumbled back, "But I thought… the wands joined… how?"

"I have another wand that I carry." Harry explained, "While he was trying to battle the join I simply dispatched him with the other one."

"But you can't buy another wand!" Dumbledore exclaimed.

"No but you can win one." Harry smirked, "And I have won several."

"How did you not know he died?" Sirius asked, "We've been having parties for the last two days because of that."

"I… " he never finished his sentence and just turned and wandered out the door.

"I think we broke him." Sirius whispered.

"I don't think he thought you could do it." Neville shook his head in disgust, "No one can know or do as much as he can. Gran really hates that about him. She says way too many people believe him, it's because his defeat of Grindlewald."

"Do me a favor will you?" Harry asked, "If I start thinking I know all and can do all tell me I'm acting like him."

"You already do a bit." Hermione said before laughing at the face he pulled, "But that's because you knew what was going on and had advice that you insisted on following. The difference is you freely admitted you didn't know all that much and had been told what to do."

"You did manipulate him pretty well." Sirius agreed.

"Dad said to make him stay out of our stuff." Harry huffed, "I only did what he wanted."

"Exactly." The rest of the group agreed.

"Well I'm glad that's done." Ron laid back on the bed he had been sitting on, "I'm ready for a bit of that calm after the storm."

"Actually." Harry grimaced, "That was only the first part."

"What's the second part?" Neville asked.

"Reworking the rest of the world." Luna answered for him.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"We can't let them be complacent. We don't want another dark dork starting up." Harry explained, "When we can make everyone equal regardless of blood we'll have a better chance of having a peaceful society."

"Just a better chance?" Hermione asked.

"They promote equality in the muggle Britain but it's not exactly a peaceful place." Harry explained, "It's better than what we have though."

"True." She conceded, "I guess the changes won't be made overnight either."

"Nope." He agreed.

It was a few days later before Harry was able to get to Griffindor Manor. He visited Nott first, "Wow you really don't know when to stop do you?"

"Let me out." Was the growl from the flobberworm on the floor. At least he thought it was supposed to be a flobberworm body. The spotty fir, oozing pustules and nasty smell was just extras.

"Let me think." Harry tapped his chin with his finger for a few seconds, "Ummm… no."

"Turn me back please." The next words were very near to begging.

"Maybe later." He grinned, "I'm going to go have some fun at Pettigrew's expense. I may come back and mess with you later."

"The Dark Lord will find me." He turned to threats.

"That's highly unlikely." Harry grinned at the man, "Because he's dead."

"NO! He is immortal." Nott argued.

"Nope." Harry popped the word, "Been dead for about a week now. He tried to attack me on Halloween again. He should know by now that's an unlucky day for him."

Harry walked down a few more cells where Sirius and Remus were waiting. Pettigrew was curled into a ball at the back of his cell until he saw Harry join them, "Harry please your dad wouldn't want them to become murderers."

"You are right. He wouldn't." Harry agreed, "However he wouldn't want them to let a traitor go without being pranked into insanity."

"What are you going to do?" he asked trembling and rolling into a ball again, a normal position for him Harry thought.

"Well that would be telling." Harry grinned evilly, "And **I** don't let secrets out."

"Which thing are we going to do first?" Sirius asked, "I vote for number 2,756."

"But that's half way through the list." Remus huffed, "I think the first one should go first."

"Or the last one." Harry added, "I really liked the last one."

"That one was an exceptional evil idea." Sirius agreed, "But it was yours and I want to use one of mine."

They heard the whimper that came from the huddle on the floor. Remus grinned and said, "I think we should go discuss it and see what ideas the twins came up with. You know they love pranks and are far more inventive then even James was."

"They did help me with the idea for the last one." Harry agreed.

"They think you're the greatest thing since dung bombs." Sirius nudged him, "It is their life's ambition to make sure you have all your pranking needs met. They even helped prank the dork lord too."

More whimpers were coming from the corner and a few from the cells around them as they discussed the twin's pranks and the number of dead death eaters from the battle. Harry thought it was very interesting that nearly everyone in his cells knew about the twins and seemed to fear them.

"Sir your twin terrors have arrived to discuss the treatment of your prisoners." Dirkley popped up by Harry's side, "You want Dirkley to bring them here?"

A cascade of whimpers was heard before Harry replied, "No take us to them. I don't want to ruin the surprise for all my… guests."

Harry, Sirius and Remus were popped away leaving behind a bevy of guests dreading their reappearance. The laughing trio entered the study where the twins were waiting.

"How did you get Dirkley to tell me my twin terrors were here?" Harry asked.

"We didn't ask him to say anything." Fred looked surprised.

"We haven't seen the lovely little elf." George added but smiled, "Twin terrors, I like it."

"Well then let's prove him right. Do you have any suggestions?" Harry asked.

"Well our first idea was putting the rat through a maze." George offered.

"We will supply a variety of punishments for not finding the correct path." Fred added.

"Of course there won't be a correct path so that will leave plenty of avenues open for punishment." Sirius grinned knowing how the twins think.

"Exactly." They nodded together.

"Ok, what about you two Siri?" he turned to his Godfather.

"Moony and I thought we'd get a boggart and put it in the cell next to his." Sirius offered, "Then we'd start with some of the more painful pranks we know of like boils on his privates."

"Really?" Harry looked at both groups of pranksters, "I'm feeling a little let down."

"What?" all four asked together.

"I was looking for something a little more… vicious." Harry smirked, "If we combined both ideas we'd be a little closer to what I want to achieve. Remember he's spent several years in the company of Voldemort and death eaters. He has to be a bit tougher than you're giving him credit for. I don't want him crying to get mercy I want him crying in real fear. Wet himself kind of fear."

"What do you propose?" Sirius huffed

"Nymphadora Tonks." Harry grinned.

"Oh, now that's evil." Remus agreed.


	15. Chapter 15

Peter woke to find himself in a white room. All the walls, floor and ceiling were plain white. He was lying on the floor in his human form and his first idea was to change into a rat. However he didn't have a wand so that was out. He stayed lying on the floor and had decided moving was probably a bad idea. One of the walls moved showing the way out but he was too afraid to move. A noise behind him had him looking back over his shoulder to see a dementor entering through a door behind him. This spurred him into moving. He dove out the door and scrambled to his feet as the door closed behind him. He was faced with two choices one path straight ahead and one to the left. Choosing the straight path he began to move.

He had gone through several twists, turns and path choices when he ran into a dead end. He thought he had found the right path because there was a plate of food sitting on a pedestal. He ran to it and quickly downed the sandwich and juice before he was chased out of the dead end by another dementor. It wasn't long before the boils started forming on his inner thighs and private areas. It made it very painful to move. The next dead end also had a plate of food and a drink but he turned and ran away without sampling.

"Huh, he's smarter than I gave him credit for." Sirius huffed.

"He may just still be full from the sandwich from earlier." Remus offered with a grin, "We'll try more food later."

"Ok."

"Quiet he's reaching his next dead end." Fred hushed them.

"Who did this one?" Harry asked.

"I did of course." Fred grinned.

Peter stopped as he entered another dead end. He whimpered when there was nothing to be seen. He inched forward hoping there was an opening out of his line of sight. A puff of smoke in his face seemed to be nothing but an irritation to those that watched but when the rat began to scream and run out of the dead end they all turned to the grinning twin.

"Hallucination powered. That one makes you see something that really scares you." Fred grinned, "Not much on entertainment for the watchers but terrifying to the rat."

"We use the same kind of thing in our Patented Daydreams." George explained, "He'll see them for about ten minutes."

"Are you going to rename them Patented Nightmares?" Sirius chuckled.

Peter finally got away from his pursuer but he'd found another dead end. Instead of moving he just sat down and leaned against a wall. He thought he was being allowed to have a rest but he didn't see the opening appear in the roof. A bucket dumped powder over his head. He jumped up and began to scratch all over. He heard a noise and looked up in time to see another bucket dumping something so he ran again. He was gasping for breath and collapsed on the floor in the next dead end. He gave into the darkness and was out.

"Now what?"

"Put him back in his cell." Harry grinned, "Make sure he's out and not faking it."

Peter woke up in his cell. He looked around quickly and patted himself down, "Only a dream."

"Why did we clear it off?" Sirius watched as the rat collapsed back onto his bed in relief.

"We're giving him a false sense of security." Harry explained, "You heard him. He thinks it was a dream. After he goes to sleep again we'll put him back and wake him up and do it again. Once he finally finds the right path we get him with the ending surprise, the big finale."

"The one I devised?"

Peter woke to find himself in a white room. All the walls, floor and ceiling were plain white. He was lying on the floor in his human form and his first idea was to change into a rat. Remembering what had happened last time when the door opened he was through it and heading off to the left. The first dead end had food and he left without sampling it. He turned back and started down another path. He kept at it running into dead ends and not entering them.

"We need to change it up." Harry frowned, "Send in the elves."

"What are they going to do?" Sirius asked.

"Not a lot." Harry grinned.

The next time Peter tried to stop without entering the dead end he found himself being pushed in. A trunk sitting innocently at the end caught his attention. You could tell he didn't want to get any closer so Harry had his elf open it. The thing that crawled out caused a panicked scream to come from Peter. It looked like a rotting corpse and everyone thought his fear was of inferi until he spoke.

"James I'm sorry it wasn't my fault." He turned and tried to leave but ran into a clear wall, "Don't hurt me."

The corpse kept inching closer and Peter's screams and tears overwhelmed him and he passed out again. They transported him back to his cell and left him in his bed and then sent a spell to wake him. He sat up in his bed then got up and started to pace.

"Can't go back to sleep." He muttered, "Can't do that again."

"Ok so this may be working." Sirius gave Harry a nod as he finally conceded defeat, "Do you think it will work with Nott?"

"No." Harry quickly stopped that idea, "I don't want to let him out of Dirkley's punishment. I'm actually considering sending him to the Department of Mysteries to see if they can tell me what kind of creature I found."

"I had no idea." Fred sighed.

"Really the pranks we could have come up with." George added.

"If we had just included him in the idea process." Fred finished.

"Oh, you're making me blush." Harry laughed evilly.

"You know I think he may outdo his father." Sirius told Remus.

"No, he's only been at it a couple of months. He has a long way to go to get as much done as James did." Remus disagreed.

"But he is so much more… creative." Sirius offered.

"I think the word you're really looking for is vicious." Remus shook his head, "Only someone that vicious could combine all our ideas into one massive torture device."

"Bentley you may give prisoner 31 his food now. But make sure you put that sleep powder from the twins in it." Harry instructed.

"Harry that only makes them sleep for about ten minutes." George was confused.

"Just enough time to get him back into the maze." Harry grinned.

For the third time Peter woke up in the maze. He began to cry right away but when the door opened he stumbled through it. He chose the straight path again unwilling to chance running into James again. After a few steps fell to the ground and laid still.

"Did he faint already?" Fred asked.

"No he's faking it." Sirius shook his head.

"How do you know?" George asked.

"I've been waiting for this." Remus grinned.

Peter lay very still hoping that if this wasn't a dream he'd fool them into letting him out. He stayed as still as he could for several minutes with nothing but silence all around him. Finally the silence was broken by a howl. And not just any howl. He knew that howl very well. He just couldn't believe anyone had set Moony on him. With only a few seconds delay he was on his feet and running.

"Told you." Remus nodded, "I knew that recording would work."

"Good to know we can still outthink the rat." Sirius slapped him on the back, "Oh, look Harry. He's finally found one of your dead ends."

"Actually that one isn't a dead end so to speak." Harry grinned, "It folds back on itself."

Sure enough for the next fifteen minutes Peter ran three laps around the square. He was beginning to slow down when he heard another well placed howl that turned him out of the loop and back into the maze. He was crying so hard Harry wasn't sure he could see any of the other tricks they had. Finally Peter ran into another dead end. This time there was a pitcher of water sitting on a pedestal. He ran up to it and took several drinks before he paused and sniffed at it. Satisfied nothing was in it he resumed drinking.

"What's in it?" Sirius asked.

"Pepper up." Harry grinned, "It will give him the energy to keep going."

"I told you he was vicious." Remus pointed out.

"And I told you he'd out do James." Sirius smirked back.

"Mr. Moony concedes your point Mr. Padfoot." Remus nodded in difference to Sirius.

"Mr. Padfoot accepts your concession Mr. Moony." Sirius was grinning like a mad man.

Peter was on the move again. He was running pell-mell down a long straight passage. If he turned right at the end they'd have him right where they wanted him to be. When the rat turned to the right Harry quietly slipped out with his partner. Peter wasn't going to know what hit him.

"Let me out." Peter cried when he hit another dead end. He backed out and took the other turn he'd had the choice of. He found another long stretch and turned the corner only to stop dead in his tracks. Not more than a few steps away were Lily and James, "How…"

"Wormy." James called and waved, "Good of you to come over. It's been so long."

The room he'd ran into looked just like the living room at the house in Godric's Hollow. James stood near the fireplace with his arm around Lily. Peter turned to run back out but instead found a wall where the door should have been.

"What's wrong Peter?" Lily asked, "Aren't you staying for dinner? Remus and Sirius will be here soon."

"No, I need to go. I've got important things to do." he was feeling along the wall trying to find the door that had disappeared.

"Sorry but I can't allow that." James voice turned angry and Peter turn around slowly.

"What?" he squeaked.

"He said we can't allow you to leave." Lily's voice was hard, "We have so much to… thank you for."

"But I didn't do anything." He whimpered, "It was Sirius. He was your secret keeper not me."

"Pete you wound me." Sirius came from behind Lily and James and Remus was behind him.

"You did it, you killed them." He pointed his finger and accused his friend, "Remember it was his idea."

"Don't lie Peter." James frowned, "You are such a rat. A stupid, ugly, smelly, dirty rat. You killed me. And you killed my Lily flower. You tried to kill my son."

"No I didn't." he pleaded, "It was Sirius."

"We know the truth Peter." Lily pointed an accusing finger at the rat/man, "You sold us to Voldemort. How much did you get for your betrayal?"

"No it wasn't like that." Peter was still whining, "He would have killed me."

"Well that really wouldn't have been much of a loss." Remus growled.

"I'm not brave like you Remus." The puppy dog eyes didn't work when he was groveling.

"Useless rat!" Sirius growled, "You didn't have to be brave. All you had to do was keep your stupid mouth shut. But you couldn't do it. You spineless…"

"I'm sorry." Peter yelled, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" James asked, "Getting caught? I should have known you were too much of a rat to keep us safe. Three lives for the price of one and you couldn't pay it. But what's worse is you could have kept the secret and your life. If you hadn't run right to your master and told him what he wanted."

"No, he would have killed me." Peter cried, "I would have died."

"So you led him right to us to save your hide." Lily growled, "How many times did we save you in school? How many times did your friends prank the Slytherins for hurting or humiliating you? I refused to date him for years because of those pranks. We only had a few good years together."

Suddenly the skin seemed to be sliding off James and Lily and soon it was rotting corpses talking to Peter. His face reflected the horror he was seeing and you could see it taking over his mind.

"I'm ashamed I ever called you friend." James' corpse stated.

"I'm ashamed I ever tried to help you." Lily's corps added.

"Mr. Moony suggests we allow the rat to meet him on a full moon." Remus growled.

"Mr. Padfoot wants him for a squeaky toy." Sirius added.

"How about a chew toy for Moony." James' corpse suggested moving closer.

"I want to test potions on him." Lily's corpse had a grotesque grin on her face.

Peter wet himself as the corpse of James reached him and grabbed his shoulder. That was quickly followed by the emptying of his bowels and his stomach. Finally his mind broke and the gibbering mess fell to the floor in the filth he had made.

"Now that is gross." Lily sounded like she was trying not to gag.

Sirius looked over and saw Remus removing the illusion from Lily and James. Soon Lily transformed back into his cousin Tonks and with just a change in eye color Harry stood where James had been. All of them stepped away from the gibbering stinky mess on the floor.

"Well I have to say Harry. You had a very interesting idea for a grand finale." Fred entered followed by George.

"Not that we don't appreciate your sense of… well not humor." George glanced over at the man on the floor.

"I think the word you're looking for is revenge." Harry nodded, "He was still trying to blame someone else, stupid rat."

"Right your sense of revenge is rather disgusting." George was holding his nose.

"It did get a bit messier than I expected." Harry shrugged, "Who gets to clean him up?"

"Not me." Sirius backed away.

"Well don't you want to take him to Madam Bones?" Harry asked, "Aren't you willing to touch him like that?"

"NO!" Sirius waved him off, "But can the elves clean him up?"

"You try to get one in here." Harry grinned.

"Bentley?" he called. The elf didn't respond. "Did you tell him not to answer?"

"No but I told him if there was something he didn't want to do for you he didn't have to." Harry grinned, "I guess he doesn't want to."

"You are evil." Sirius grumbled.

"You can use magic." Harry pointed out.

"It's just so gross." He complained, "Moony are you going to help?"

"Sure." He sighed.

"Here you are Madam Bones." Sirius dropped Peter on the ground at her feet, "Package is delivered."

"What is he saying? She asked.

"We've not been able to figure it out." He shrugged in response.

"Any idea how he got this way?" She asked with a grin.

"Not a clue." Remus kept an innocent face as he replied.

"Do you know what Mr. Potter is doing with that animal he has in the cage?" she pointed at the boy on the other side of the room.

"He found that near one of his manors." Sirius looked over and waved at his godson who waved back, "He's waiting for someone from the Department of Mysteries to see if they know what it is or if they want to take it and find out."

"They'll have fun with that." She nodded, "I have a list of suspected death eaters that I've been looking for. Have you happened to see any of these?"

"I don't think so but I don't know some of those names so we could have seen them and not known." Sirius shrugged.

"Right." She shook her head then toed Peter, "I think we'll need to have this one looked over."

"Why? Isn't he scheduled for the kiss?" Sirius asked, "Why fix him up just to take his soul?"

"That is a point." She grinned, "And he was scheduled for the veil not a kiss. We aren't using the dementors any longer. I've asked a few people to start looking into ways to kill them or contain them. If you wish to help I can give you a contact in the DOM."

"Do we have to work in the DOM?" Sirius whined.

"No you can work independently and just report to them." She offered.

"We can do that." Remus agreed, "Can we bring in Harry?"

"The more the merrier." She shrugged.

The trio watched as a man approached Harry and the animal, "Hello, what do you have here?"

"I don't know." Harry reached out and shook the man's hand, "That's what we're doing here."

"Where ever did you find it?" he asked.

"Well I just found out about a manor I inherited and I was looking around it and found this wandering around in the basement." Harry scratched his head, "I was able to get it into this cage by putting some food in it."

"Any name you'd like us to give it since you found it?" he asked.

"I don't think I have any preferences." Harry grinned, "Just keep rope away from his mouth. I tried to tie him up at one point and he chewed right through the knot."

"Doesn't like knots." The man hummed.

"Actually I think he likes Notts quite a bit." Harry grinned at his meaning that the man would miss.

"Well thanks for bringing him in." he shook Harry's hand again, "I'll let you know when we figure him out."

"My pleasure." Harry walked away and met Sirius and Remus who were still standing by Madam Bones.

"Ready to go?" Remus asked.

"Yes, I need to get back to school. I have classes tomorrow." Harry waved to Madam Bones as they left.

They arrived back at Hogsmeade and started the walk up to the school. All at once Harry stopped and smacked himself on the forehead.

"What is it pup?" Sirius asked.

"Why didn't we think of the maze in time to use it on Voldemort?" he asked.

"I doubt he would have fallen for the tricks." Remus offered, "I'm not sure we could have held him"

"Well the death eaters then." Harry huffed.

"The Weasleys Terrifyingly Fortified Zone would not have been nearly as fun without them." Sirius shrugged as they passed through the gates.

"By the way, next time you see Tonks tell her that the melting corpse idea was truly inspired." Harry grinned, "Truly an evil genius she is."

"She takes after me." Sirius strutted off ahead of the other two.

"Only smarter and better looking." Remus whispered to Harry.

Harry chuckled with him. However the sly look he gave the man went unnoticed. Remus and Tonks together would be nice he thought.


End file.
